The Open Conspiracy by H. G. Wells (you can read it online here)
I first read about this book here on incunabula and it sparked my curiosity enough to check the book out at the library. (It’s easier to read entire books on my busride than sitting at a computer either at work or at home.) You could try to buy the book here (powells) or here (amazon). Good luck. You’ll need it. [Insert rant about how nicely the internet fills the void of out-of-print books and how ridiculous current copyright legislation is…]
I don’t know how I felt about this book. The basic premise of the book follows from it’s central tenets: 1) Organized religion doesn’t effectively harness the ‘religious tendency’ (read selfless service to others) in post-religious moderns;
2) There needs to be a new ‘religion’ to fill the void;
3) This new ‘religion’ will be devoted to establishing a post-national world organization devoted to ensuring that the world over has adequate supplies of basic necessities (food, water, medicine, etc.) and working to limit the growth of population generally;
4) And which this, post-national organization, would eventually come to replace the outmoded and destructive nation state, with all of its dated and traditionalistic patriotic and nationalistic excesses.
It’s a grand vision, but the thing seemed a bit… mushy to me. I wish it hadn’t. I sort of wanted it to be more robust and specific, but like most grand visions it suffered under the weight of its own conclusions. Namely, how to get from here to there.
His ideas about the need for changes in the institutions of education, I think, are spot on.