This interview originally aired on "In the Moment" on SDPB Radio.
Thomas More first coined the term utopia in his political satire of the same name from 1516. He described what he thought would be a perfect world and called it a utopia, which translates to "no place" in Latin.
Since the sixteenth century, utopias in fiction have often been a tongue-in-cheek reference to imaginary places rife with contradictions. A dystopia is the frightful, often post-apocalyptic opposite of a utopia.
Take a trip through famous utopias and dystopias with Alexander Weinstein. Weinstein is a speculative and science fiction author who has written several acclaimed short story collections, including Universal Love and Children of the New World.
He will be the keynote speaker at the University of South Dakota's upcoming Utopia/Dystopia Symposium. Learn more about the free event happening Feb. 6 and 7.
