Before women were given the right to vote, this novel prophesied women presidents, prime ministers, and leaders of the opposition. Before the existence of the Labor Party in New Zealand it advocated social welfare and subsidized housing, and before the computer and e-mail, it foresaw a noiseless telegraph. Written by Sir Julius Vogel, New Zealand's Prime Minister in the 1870s, Anno Domini 2000 came closer to the mark than George Orwell's 1984.