A wickedly clever satire uses comic inversions to offer telling insights
into the nature of man and society. Nominated as one of America's
best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read. Gulliver's Travels
describes the four voyages of Lemuel Gulliver, a ship's surgeon. In
Lilliput he discovers a world in miniature; towering over the people and
their city, he is able to view their society from the viewpoint of a
god. However, in Brobdingnag, a land of giants, tiny Gulliver himself
comes under observation, exhibited as a curiosity at markets and fairs.
In Laputa, a flying island, he encounters a society of speculators and
projectors who have lost all grip on everyday reality; while they plan
and calculate, their country lies in ruins. Gulliver's final voyage
takes him to the land of the Houyhnhnms, gentle horses whom he quickly
comes to admire - in contrast to the Yahoos, filthy bestial creatures
who bear a disturbing resemblance to humans.