Introduction by Carl Jensen This facinating novel by one of America's best loved writers is set in New York in the year 2000 when capitalism finds its zenith with the building of The Pleasure Palace, a glittering half-mile structure in the middle of Central Park. At the opening an experiment goes badly wrong and an explosion kills everyone in the world save eleven of the people at The Pleasure Palace. They struggle to rebuild their lives by creating a new capitalistic society but soon find that to survive they will have to find a new way of life.