Utopia, << yoo TOH pee uh, >> is the name commonly given to an imaginary land where everything is supposed to be perfect. The name utopia comes from the Greek words meaning no place. The name refers particularly to a society with ideal economic and social conditions. People often apply the word utopian to plans of reform that they consider impractical and visionary.
The word utopia was used as the title of a famous book by Sir Thomas More (also known as Saint Thomas More). Utopia was first published in Latin in 1516 and was translated into English in 1551. It is partly in the form of a dialogue. The book gives More’s views on the ideal government. But, like most writings on utopias, it also criticizes social and economic conditions of More’s times.
Several other books have presented an imaginary ideal state of society. One of the first books describing a utopia was Plato’s Republic (375 B.C.?). More recent utopias are described in Samuel Butler’s Erewhon, which almost spells nowhere backwards (1872), and Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward (1888).
