Reviews

Caroline Casey, Visionary Activist Radio, Pacifica March 14, 2019:

America 2034 Utopia Rising is “Calliope arising from the cauldron of calamity… Extrapolating the dementor trajectory into its full horror as incentive for the utopia of ingenious sane, reverent, common sense arising from the rubble…(the book offers) so much beautiful democratic animism. It’s the cooperating with nature’s guiding genius. …the council of mystics is great…because as we’re dedicated, all in this dream together, we are wealthy with solutions of humans humbly cooperating with nature’s guiding genius… There’s a very important resonance in America 2034 in which often the animal spirits say, ‘remember why you came, remember your life is sacred.’  Right, and is that part of what you’re whispering to each one of us, that we all have a mission and the time is now?”

Listen to the full interview here.

Mary Papenfuss, HuffPost:

“The future isn’t pretty in journalist Jonathan Greenberg’s new dystopian satire “America 2034: Utopia Rising,” where two-thirds of the population is enslaved in debtor labor camps to work for the oligarchs of the renamed nation the United Enterprises of America, ruled with an iron fist by president-for-life “Donald Jesus Trump.” Abortion is illegal; half of newborns are removed from their mothers to be sold to affluent customers. The nation is on the brink of ecological devastation. A guiding principle of the land is that “God helps those who help themselves,” or, more succinctly in the president’s words: “It’s not our job to care for the losers. In Greenberg’s futuristic vision, the crisis started after the presidential election of 2020 when Donald Jesus refused to accept his loss, disenfranchised 15 million voters and called out the military to quell protests. But there’s hope. More than 100 million people living in the brave states of California, Oregon and Washington battle for control.”

Read the full review here.

Dr Annis Pratt, Impakter Magazine, January 2019:

“The trouble with dystopias is that they tend to make their readers miserable. 1984 is relentlessly dark, with only the briefest hint that there might be a better way to live…Fortunately, dystopian writing more often enfolds alternative utopian possibilities… In 2034, Greenberg alternates dystopia and utopia. Accounts of what is going on in his Trumpean “The United Enterprises of America” are interspersed with utopian scenes from “The United Peoples of America”. He devotes so many chapters to the latter that he doesn’t so much enfold his utopia within his dystopia as to suggest (as his subtitle hints) that his book is mainly about “Utopia Rising.” As a result, he provides as much utopian hopes as dystopian misery…not only a compelling read but also a good think. His swiftly moving plot structure reminds me of J.R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings series…Greenberg escapes the anodyne for the compelling: He uses a unique blend of technology and ecology to create interesting military strategies and arresting battle scenes … Greenberg’s utopian norms have a solid grounding, moreover, in both recent technological thinking and ecological philosophy.”

Read the full review and interview here.

Henry Garcia-Alvarez, The Sonoma Independent:

“The future is now in America 2034: I was tempted to check the news to make sure that the dystopian future for Trump’s renamed United Enterprises of America was not already happening, such as Trump’s desire, implied right after his visit to China, to become “President for Life” … This book has all the elements of a well-crafted contemporary vision for a harmonious future, and as such is a valuable contribution to the field of utopia literature. America 2034: Utopia Rising story touches the places we all want to believe are already in each of us. It is an excellent tale of how spiritual insight and spiritual communication abilities can awaken Human Divineness to vanquish Human Evil…The book should be required reading for young voters and apolitical folk of all ages who somehow still believe that Trump’s lunacy will not affect them or our world.”

Read the full interview here.

America in 2034: Jonathan Greenberg and Johanna Watts Interview

Temple University Journalism Professor Linn Washington:

“This powerful sequel to 1984 gets to the heart of the dark absurdity that has become our daily reality in Trump’s America. Wicked, funny, uplifting and suspenseful, America 2034: Utopia Rising advances a visionary antidote for our troubled times.”

KCBS Radio, San Francisco:

“Fiction or the Future? New Dystopian book on Trump.”

Listen to the full review and interview here.

Amazon Reviewer Michael Z. Wrote:

This guy is a fantastic writer and the way the characters are portrayed is phenomenally interesting, really great divergence between the apocalyptic views of continued tyranny and the inner light of consciousness dwelling within the people. I gave it to my nephew who is into reading and it was also enjoyable to him. Perfect for sci-fi fans who liked Orwells’ 1984.

Amazon Reviewer Jamie W. Wrote:

As a modern take on George Orwell’s 1984, this book chilled me to the bone with it’s prophetic vision of how iniquitous and sinister a government can become if we continue to place more value on enterprise than on our fellow human beings. Although Jonathan Greenburg’s America 2034 took me to a darker place than Orwell’s book, his tale offers another vision as well: hope. As a counter-resistance to some of most sadistic human behavior the world has witnessed, a new society emerges where humans work in partnership with the animal and plant kingdoms to restore the earth and provide liberation for all its inhabitants. I especially loved how this new government is inspired by some of the Native American traditions of leading communities in a spiritually based, council style that is dedicated to the betterment of all. Unlike the despair I felt at the ending of 1984, Utopia Rising has left me with a beautiful dream of what is possible when we work together to overcome hatred and create a society based on love.