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The Last War: A World Set Free (Bison Frontiers of Imagination)

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"The Last War" is a novel by H.G. Wells which chronicles the end of civilization by atomic weapons. Like the alien invader theme (also pioneered by Wells), this premise has been used to death in countless books and films and reduced to cliche, but in 1914, when the novel was first published, the idea was completely new. Thirty-one years before Hiroshima and Nagasaki, H.G. Wells wrote the first novel about the effects of nuclear war.

This edition of "The Last War" contains an informative introduction by Greg Bear, describing the social conditions that led to the book's publication, and a lot of background information about Wells himself.

It could be said that "The Last War" is one of the only books where nuclear war proves to be a positive experience. Society is swept away, purged by fire, and a new civilization rises from the ashes of the old. This all happens in a relatively short time. Wells would use this theme again in "The Shape of Things To Come" (1933).

"The Last War" is notable for its prophetic qualities (never mind that the atomic bombs are thrown by hand), but in parts the book can be rather dry. The story doesn't move at the same pace as "The War of the Worlds" or "The Time Machine", for example. Since the end of World War Two and the beginning of the Cold War, the glut of post-nuclear scenarios that followed have been more willing to portray the full horror that such a conflict would bring. In "The Last War" there is a feeling of detatchment, the sense one gets from reading a history book. The book deals more with events than characters.

In summing up, H.G. Wells had no idea he was starting a genre that would become popular for years to come. The post-nuclear world is a place many writers have liked to visit and describe in detail. Wells saw it first.

The World Set Free (recently reissued as The Last War) is a 1914 science fiction novel by H. G. Wells. When atomic bombs are developed and the world is threatened with universal devastation, its leaders are forced to rethink war, government, and society.

The World Set Free is remarkably prophetic, as Wells forecasts both nuclear war and the capacity for mutually-assured destruction. And while Wells misses the mark on the way atomic bombs work (his atomic bombs have the same explosive power as conventional bombs, but they just keep on burning), he certainly doesn't underestimate their destructive power.

This book feels like a novel only in the sense that it relates a series of fictional events. What few individuals appear here are scarcely characters in the literary sense - other than Egbert, none are developed in the slightest. This simply wasn't what Wells is trying to do - Wells is interested in the technology and its ramifications, and because that's what he focuses on, The World Set Free reads like a fictional history book, or perhaps like an outline for a longer novel. This keeps it from ever getting too interesting, and while it's a short book, it can be hard to get through.

In short, The World Set Free is an impressively-imagined but not very well-written piece of prophetic science fiction.

Herbert George Wells (1866-1946) is best remembered for his pioneering works in the field of science-fiction, most notably The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897), and The War of the Worlds (1898). In point of fact, Mr. Wells fiction took him into speculation of how scientific discoveries would affect the future. In particular, his 1908 book, The War in the Air, was full of fascinating forward thinking.

In this 1913 book (published in 1914), the author takes speculation he had read about the possibility of releasing energy from atoms, and writes about a future of atomic power and atomic weapons. The atomic weapons of this book make relatively small, but on-going (for centuries!) explosions. Plus, apparently at the time they knew little about the effects of radiation on living organisms. But, nonetheless, this is the very first story ever written about a nuclear war!

So far so good. Unfortunately, by this time, H.G.'s fiction writing ability was in steep decline, and the best of his fiction was long behind him. The Last War: A World Set Free focuses less on the war than it does on humanity's embracing of socialism. Indeed, the book is less a work of science-fiction, than a polemic for socialism.

So, am I saying that this book was no good, and you should avoid it? Well, I'm afraid that I am. In this story, Wells does not show a good grasp of where the world was headed, as the following quotation will show, "For long decades the combative side in human affairs had been monstrously exaggerated by the accidents of political separation." In point of fact, militarism, hatred, and murder stretch in an unbroken line from the Nazi Storm Troopers of yesteryear, to the suicide bombers of today.

And, to make matters worse, this book is surprisingly boring for a book about nuclear war. Overall, I did not enjoy this book, and I do not recommend it. (I do, though, recommend Wells' The War in the Air.)

By the time British author H.G. Wells got around to writing "The Last War," in 1914, the general public already recognized he was a master of science fiction. "The Time Machine," "The Invisible Man," "The War of the Worlds," and "The Island of Dr. Moreau" had all come out some twenty years before he penned this slim book about global atomic war and the subsequent restructuring of human civilization. Most readers today only remember Wells as an amazingly prescient science fiction author. He was, however, so much more. For example, he wrote a number of non-fiction pieces, perhaps the most important being his two-volume work "The Outline of History". First published in 1920 and an instant success with the public, Wells went on to revise his historical opus on several occasions--a sign of its enduring popularity. Moreover, and many people familiar with the author's name don't remember this little tidbit, Wells was an avowed socialist. I'd go so far as to call him a communist, especially after reading "The Last War". This look at nuclear cataclysm is less a triumph of science fiction and more a pamphlet used by Wells to espouse his socialist/communist belief system. I loathe communism.

I don't, however, necessarily hate this book. The story starts out on a very powerful note, with Wells distilling the technological prowess and advancement of the human race down to a single chapter. According to the author, it is man's destiny to somehow harness a science that will replicate the power and intensity of the sun. Nuclear power! The breakthrough comes soon enough when a young man named Holsten figures out how to release the inner power of the atom in 1933. Benefits galore spring from the wonders of atomic power. Goodbye horse and buggy and steamships, hello atomic powered cars, airplanes, and ships. Mankind realizes a new age in transportation, industry, and myriad other facets of human existence as the atom becomes the centerpiece of technology. Unfortunately, humanity also starts building new weapons incorporating the new technology. Coupled with the capitalist system's failure to adapt to the demise of the industrial age, social unrest and general hostility flare up. Then the wars start, destructive wars involving millions upon millions of soldiers going head to head across the entire world. It's only a matter of time before the atomic bombs start dropping.

Wells complicates things (and increases the deadly carnage) by making his atomic bombs devices that soldiers can throw by hand as well as drop by plane. Even worse, the warheads don't simply level cities; they continue to detonate for years afterwards, burrowing deep into the ground and spewing huge amounts of flame and radiation. Millions, if not billions, die in these atomic fires. Paris goes up in flames, as do Berlin, London, and most other big metropolitan centers around the world. Entire armies vanish off the face of the earth as the war turns into genocidal madness. In one instance, bombs dropped on the dams in Holland unleash floodwaters that kill hundreds of thousands in a few hours. Unleashing the power of the sun leaves civilization tottering on the brink of utter annihilation until a spark of sanity saves us at the last second. The remaining leaders of the world gather to create a single global government that will oversee the banning of atomic weapons and war. Too, this body promises to use technology to elevate mankind to a better existence. Those leaders still devoted to war quickly fall prey to the peacemakers, and the world government receives the support of the earth's war weary population.

"The Last War," manages to put forth some gripping scenes of war despite its annoying socialist/communist message. Wells describes the destruction of Paris in gripping, memorable detail, down to the effects the explosion and radiation have on the human body. The destruction of the dams and the watery aftermath are pretty darn exciting as well. Most entertaining is the author's description of how the bombs work. He invents an element, Carolinum, to fuel his atomic devices. The core of the bomb reacts when introduced to open air, so a soldier or pilot must pull out a plug before throwing or dropping the warhead on enemy troops and cities. You certainly wouldn't want to drop that blazing sucker in your lap while flying a plane! The design of the bomb is absolute malarkey, but it's still amazing that Wells could visualize such devices and their ultimate use as a weapon as early as 1914. Scientists knew a bit about radiation and the power hidden in the atom before and during this time, but the real breakthroughs came in the 1930s, exactly the time in which Wells foresaw the beginning of the nuclear age.

Sadly, the good parts of "The Last War" disappear under an avalanche of socialist agitprop. Wells can't resist slamming the capitalist system early on in the book, blaming it for creating conditions that lead to all-out nuclear conflict. Then there's the single world government stuff in the middle of the book. The really, REALLY scary stuff shows up in the final chapter. Set in a future far removed from the horrors of atomic war, Wells shows us the advances civilization has made without the threat of conflict hanging over its head. What's wrong with that? Nothing, except most of it resembles Soviet dogma of the 1920s through the 1950s. He talks about changing the very structures of the human mind and body as well as radical feminism that denies biological differences, among other things. Wells obviously believed in the malleability of the human mind and body, and that governments should work to bring about this new reality. That's exactly what Lenin, Stalin, and the rest of the killers over in the Soviet Union tried to do. They failed miserably. Give "The Last War" a chance, but beware of the Stalinist propaganda contained within.