Public Libraries of Suffolk County, New York

Men like gods, H. G. Wells

eng

no index present

fiction

Men like gods

electronic resource eBook

dictionaries

H. G. Wells

Dover thrift editions

In the summer of 1921, a disenchanted journalist escapes the rat race for a drive in the country. But Mr. Barnstaple's trip exceeds his expectations when he and other motorists are swept 3,000 years into the future. The inadvertent time travelers arrive in a world that corresponds exactly to Barnstaple's ideals: a utopian state, free of crime, poverty, war, disease, and bigotry. Unfettered by the constraints of government and organized religion, the citizens lead rich, meaningful lives, passed in pursuit of their creative fancies. Barnstaple's traveling companions, however, quickly contrive a scheme to remake the utopia in the image of their twentieth-century world. A century after its initial publication, H. G. Wells' novel offers an enduringly relevant look at an ideal society. Conceived in the aftermath of World War I, it reflects the failings of human nature but offers hope for the future, when men and women may live like gods

Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Contents -- Book the first The irruption of the earthlings -- I. Mr. Barnstaple takes a holiday -- II. The wonderful road -- III. The beautiful people -- IV. The shadow of Einstein falls across the story but passes lightly by -- V. The governance and history of utopia -- VI. Some earthly criticisms -- VII. The bringing in of lord barralonga's party -- VIII. Early morning in utopia -- Book the second Quarantine crag -- I. The epidemic -- II. The castle on the crag -- III. Mr. Barnstaple as a traitor to mankind -- IV. The end of quarantine cragBook the third A neophyte in utopia -- I. The peaceful hills beside the river -- II. A loiterer in a living world -- III. The service of the earthling -- IV. The return of the earthling