These works are warnings; feverish missives churned out by half-mad prophets and visionaries whose message is uniform and clear: If we do not change our ways, these wastelands and teeming urban slums will be our future
But in order to effect any such change, there has to be a spark—these writers have to force the reader to feel emotions powerful enough to disrupt our routines; to shatter thought patterns and leave us so shaken that we have no choice but to alter our lives.