The Begum's Fortune (Extraordinary Voyages #18)
Author: Jules Verne
Desc: Two heirs to an Indian Begum's estate -- Dr. Francois Sarrasin a Frenchman and Professor Schultz a German -- split 525 million francs. With his half of the money Sarrasin builds an ideal community called Frankville in the northwestern United States. Schultz uses his half to construct a city called Steeltown which produces weapons of destruction. Of course their ideologies clash . . . literally and figuratively.