DON'T TRY TO FIGURE A FINAL ANSWER TO THIS ONE. PHILOSOPHERS HAVE TRIED FOR AGES ... AND HAVE FAILED!

This is a prequel to _Rolltown_, though it doesn't neatly mesh with the earlier novel. Both novels feature a policeman named Bat Hardin. But the characters aren't much alike. In _Rolltown_, Hardin is an amiable, somewhat insecure cop who is convinced that he is not highly intelligent. But in _Commune 2000_, which supposedly occurs earlier, he is a tough, hard-bitten, self-confident man. Also, _Rolltown_ is an action oriented novel, while _Commune 2000_ is more of a straight social study.  The central character is an academician who is asked to investigate communes for his dissertation and who gradually realizes that the project is sponsored by government agencies that want to control or squash them. There are lots of details on a variety of communes-- including a lesbian commune, an artist's colony, and a Greek revival colony-- and information on the history of communes and utopias. Reynolds makes the point that a lot of communes for various kinds of nonconformists can be benificial to mainstream society over the long haul.  Some of the dialogue is on the slangy side, and there are some sex scenes that are pretty awful. But on the balance, this is a readable and thoughtful book.

Mack Reynolds has always been admired for his ability to portray the world of the future in its varied aspects - social, political, scientific and economic. Now, he presents his readers with an imaginative and action-packed look into the everyday life of a twenty-first century policeman.

In Rolltown, Mack Reynolds turns his productive imagination towards the growing phenomenon of mobile living in America. Taking us decades into the future, he tells the story of a world where people have taken to the road en masse, in huge mobile "towns" composed of hundreds or even thousands of inhabitants, attempting to deal with a hostile and over-organized world.

It is sometime in the near future....The nations of Earth have drawn colser together - there is even hope that a new era of cooperation and progress will soon begin. These dreams of lasting peace are shattered by one momentous discover. One of the members of an international team of scientists stationed on the moon has found an alien spacecraft, with all is incredible techology and weaponry intact. The discovery shatters the illusion of peace on Earth, as each nation joins the mad scramble to learn the terrible secrets entombed by alien visitors eons before.

Shure and begorra, it was a great day for the Earth! The first envoy from another world was about to speak--that is, if he could forget that horse for a minute....

14-year-old Alice King was a typical junior high girl — until her prostitute mother got her into the business. After the police arrest Alice, her tragic story unfolds.

Almost anything, if it goes on long enough, can be reduced to, first a Routine, and then, to a Tradition. And at the point it is, obviously, Necessary.

It is the year 2000 . . . and something has gone wrong in the perfect city . . . The enemy has no face. It does not show on the scanners. It avoids the world's most sophisticated surveillance system. But it leaves a wake of profitless crime and motiveless murder . . . And puts the future of mankind's paradise-on-earth in peril!

Julian West had been put into a hypnotic trance and placed in a sealed room. Then the house burned down and he was forgotten ... until he awoke forty years later. It was the year 2000, and it seemed like Utopia. But would it be Utopia for Julian West? He was a man of the past, totally unable to adapt to the unbelievable social, political and cultural changes; totally unable to assimilate the explosive advances in all branches of knowledge.Julian West was a child, lost among the wonders of the Twenty-First Century—but he would have to adapt and learn if he wanted to survive.

Here's what happens when a small group of mercenary rogues sets out to overthrow a despotic government. With a slogan of "What's in it for me?", and the highest of principles (from here on out, no one in this group sells out for less than $10,000.00!), the disgruntled eventually lead a political movement that brings down Big Brother. Great humor!