"O brave new world that has such people in it." is Miranda's exclamation in Shakespeare's The Tempest. But would she be so enthused if she were to have seen Huxley's Brave New World.

The year is 632 A. F. (After Ford) and total human happiness has been achieved. Reproduction is facilitated by growing the embryos in jars, genetic engineering ensures their physical traits, conditioning - by repetitive messages delivered during sleep (hypnopaedia) - and a drug called "Soma", that does not have any negative physical responses even if it is used for a long period are the foundations of this Brave New World.

The babies that are "born" belong to different castes. There are the Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas and Epsilons.

Within each level there are sub-levels like Alpha Pluses and Beta minuses.
Each caste is ensured to comply with their function through the careful genetic wizardry that is used. Alcohol is introduced to lower-caste bottles to stunt growth and intelligence. The Alphas are nurtured.

The children are educated in "sex play" from a very young age, and uninhibited sex is encouraged, with appropriate contraception of course.

Bernard is a Beta-plus who is shorter than most and is convinced something went wrong with his conditioning. He likes a woman called Lenina and takes her on a holiday to a savage reservation in New Mexico. They stumble accross a savage called John who it turns out is the son of one of Bernard's superiors who was born to his then love-interest who accidentally got left behind 20 years before.

John is brought back to society and cannot take the restrictions and runs away. Eventually he is hounded by the press and tourists wanting to see "a real life savage", and he commits suicide.

This is another cautionary tale of overbearing state or dictatorial control, and is another must-read.