War and the Future

by H.G. Wells

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

Genres: History, Classics, War, Ebooks

162 pages, Paperback

Published July 12, 2006

About the author

Herbert George Wells was born to a working class family in Kent, England. Young Wells received a spotty education, interrupted by several illnesses and family difficulties, and became a draper's apprentice as a teenager. The headmaster of Midhurst Grammar School, where he had spent a year, arranged for him to return as an "usher," or student teacher. Wells earned a government scholarship in 1884, to study biology under Thomas Henry Huxley at the Normal School of Science. Wells earned his bachelor of science and doctor of science degrees at the University of London. After marrying his cousin, Isabel, Wells began to supplement his teaching salary with short stories and freelance articles, then books, including The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897), and The War of the Worlds (1898).

Wells created a mild scandal when he divorced his cousin to marry one of his best students, Amy Catherine Robbins. Although his second marriage was lasting and produced two sons, Wells was an unabashed advocate of free (as opposed to "indiscriminate") love. He continued to openly have extra-marital liaisons, most famously with Margaret Sanger, and a ten-year relationship with the author Rebecca West, who had one of his two out-of-wedlock children. A one-time member of the Fabian Society, Wells sought active change. His 100 books included many novels, as well as nonfiction, such as A Modern Utopia (1905), The Outline of History (1920), A Short History of the World (1922), The Shape of Things to Come (1933), and The Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind (1932). One of his booklets was Crux Ansata, An Indictment of the Roman Catholic Church. Although Wells toyed briefly with the idea of a "divine will" in his book, God the Invisible King (1917), it was a temporary aberration. Wells used his international fame to promote his favorite causes, including the prevention of war, and was received by government officials around the world. He is best-remembered as an early writer of science fiction and futurism.

He was also an outspoken socialist. Wells and Jules Verne are each sometimes referred to as "The Fathers of Science Fiction". D. 1946.

More: http://philosopedia.org/index.php/H._...

http://www.online-literature.com/well...

http://www.hgwellsusa.50megs.com/

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/t...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._G._Wells

Reviews

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

This collection of essays Wells wrote during the first two years of the war is fine but never terrific. It's more of a curiosity than a compelling piece of writing. The chapters on aerial photography and tanks are pretty good; others are replete with allusions to figures of the time that I couldn't catch. Wells argues that the only way in which wars will be eliminated is for all of the world's ten thousand religions to merge into one grand one, since people fight for God more enthusiastically than for their countries. Not much to recommend here.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Starts off as a biased bit of patriotic propaganda in the form of a report from the Western front as a journalist sent on a tour. Then it degenerates into the same ideas put forward in his " What is Coming? A Forecast of Things after the War".

Wells, believes in the goodness of government and the bigger the government the better, the problems of man can be solved by world government and a more powerful bureaucracy.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wells gives his commentary on World War II. The connections are difficult to follow at times. This is a series of disjointed essays that have a general theme of World War II. Wells goes off on tangents about religion, leaders and politics. Some of these insights are intriguing but the vast majority of this work is a bit confusing.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first H.G. Wells book I ever read. I read it in college and considering that at the time my family was kind of flirting with fascism. It was nice to know that my utter disgust at such beliefs was not singularly within my heart and mind.

[Eddie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Maybe 1.5 stars. This got dull fast. I could feel it in the first 30 minutes. Random HG Wells observations with no continuity or connection to each other. Just bc this guy could spin a good fiction yarn doesn't mean he could give a coherent account on WW1. Not to mention Well was a naive socialist (like all socialists) and believed more in theories and thoughts rather than actual reality. At the end Wells' summary and 'solution' was a 1 world religion bc he said "people fight over religion more than anything and with more motivation." What a total dummy. Muslimes do but not everybody else. Like nobody fought a war over land and money (newsflash: so called religious wars are about land and money too under the guise of religion to dupe the useful idiots who will do the fighting). So 1 religion will stop wars! What a tool. 1) people would still find a reason for wars - like for money and land. 2) 1 world religion won't mean nationalism is gone and every country will govern the same way - commies and dictators will ALWAYS be there - follow da mooney.

That was really just a few pages at the end - 95% of the book was dumb ramblings that bored me. Save your time and read an HG Wells novel - not this poop.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting and surprising little book

This small book covers a lot of territory. It starts with a discussion of how technology dramatically changed war fare. Think about it. Before WWI there were no tanks, airplanes, machine guns and advanced artillery. They changed how wars were fought and how wars affected soldiers and civilians alike. He then goes on to discussions about whether England and Germany should have been friends and the chance that a defeated Germany would come back and wreak havoc on England and France (pretty insightful for 1916). He talks about socialism quite a bit, since he was a died in the wall socialist. And he has an interesting take on America’s indifference toward what was at the time a strictly European war. Unless you are a WWI scholar, there are some interesting and surprising things here. Ps don’t get the audio book th woman reader just doesn’t seem right for the part. Read the kindle book. It’s a quick read

[Russell Stamets · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some call it propaganda, but it's interesting work from the author of The Time Machine.