Books about: False Utopia where people are drugged or gaslit (think Matrix)

[Zoe]

I’m looking for a false utopia/dystopia where people are drugged, gaslit, or being manipulated by the government in some way. It could be on a small scale (like The Program) or on a larger scale (like The Matrix)

[KeenReader]

It's been a while since I read it, but Brave New World sounds like the sort of thing you are looking for.

[Rainbowheart]

The Giver

[Robert]

Lots of Philip K. Dick have a version of this plot, for example Ubik

[CraftyChara]

Insurgent Amity faction does this

Across the Universe Phydus becomes more of a plot point in the second book.

Uglies Brain alterations are performed on the pretties to make them cheerful and stupid. Almost all transformations in this series are accompanied by some form of brain alteration to make sure the subject accepts the change without question.

Coda

Into the Thinking Kingdoms

Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand

The Stranger Times

This Perfect Day

[Zoe]

Thanks! I’ll make sure to check all of these books out!

[Gillian]

In Epic, violence was banned in reality and replaced with a video game.

[Guy]

It's quite a slight book, but Captive Universe does this: the protagonist is a young Aztec warrior who gradually starts to realise that his whole world is... not at all what he thought. I'll say no more ;-)