The Island of Dr. Moreau (Modern Library)

Modern day practices such as gene-splicing and bioengineering are foretold in H.G. Well's haunting visionary fable. The book created a sensation when it first appeared in 1896, and Wells himself later deemed the work "an exercise in youthful blasphemy." The new The Island of Dr. Moreau feature film stars Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer.

A shipwreck in the South Seas, a palm-tree paradise where a mad doctor conducts vile experiments, animals that become human and then "beastly" in ways they never were before--it's the stuff of high adventure. It's also a parable about Darwinian theory, a social satire in the vein of Jonathan Swift (Gulliver's Travels), and a bloody tale of horror. Or, as H. G. Wells himself wrote about this story, "The Island of Dr. Moreau is an exercise in youthful blasphemy. Now and then, though I rarely admit it, the universe projects itself towards me in a hideous grimace. It grimaced that time, and I did my best to express my vision of the aimless torture in creation." This colorful tale by the author of The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, and The War of the Worlds lit a firestorm of controversy at the time of its publication in 1896.