Book description
When Dr Philip Raven, an intellectual working for the League of
Nations, dies in 1930 he leaves behind a powerful legacy - an
unpublished 'dream book'. Inspired by visions he has experienced for
many years, it appears to be a book written far into the future: a
history of humanity from the date of his death up to 2105. The Shape of
Things to Come provides this 'history of the future', an account that
was in some ways remarkably prescient - predicting climatic disaster and
sweeping cultural changes, including a Second World War, the rise of
chemical warfare, and political instabilities in the Middle East.
H. G. Wells was a professional writer and journalist, who published
more than a hundred books, including novels, histories, essays and
programmes for world regeneration. Wells's prophetic imagination was
first displayed in pioneering works of science fiction, but later he
became an apostle of socialism, science and progress. His
controversial views on sexual equality and the shape of a truly
developed nation remain directly relevant to our world today. He was,
in Bertrand Russell's words, 'an important liberator of thought and action'.
John Clute is the co-editor of The Encyclopaedia of Science Fiction
with Peter Nicholls. He has written much sf criticism, and for his
criticism in general he has won the Pilgrim Award and the ICFA
Distinguished Guest Scholar Award.
Patrick Parrinder has written on H. G. Wells, science fiction, James
Joyce and the history of the English novel. Since 1986 he has been
Professor of English at the University of Reading.
John Partington has written widely on H. G. Wells' science fiction
and political thought, including his most recent book Building
Cosmopolis. He is the editor of The Wellsian, the the annual journal
of the H. G. Wells Society.
