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What Is Coming?

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H. G. Wells is rightfully considered one of the founding fathers of science fiction as a genre. Many of the themes in his science fiction books - time travel, alien invasion, biological manipulation - have in themselves become standard subgenera of the science fiction literature. However, aside from his fictional writing, Wells was also a very keen observer of social and political trends, and had a very refined sense of the import of the current events. I had known about this aspect of his career for a while, but until I came across "What is Coming?" I never had a chance to read about his musings on society and politics in his own words. This book turned out to be an excellent introduction to these topics. However, if you were considering reading this book I would warn you about a couple of things. First of all, as already mentioned, these are Wells' musings on political and social future, and are not his predictions of what future technological breakthroughs may come. There are no speculations about spaceships, robots, or any other topic favored by futurists. Second, this book was written in 1916 in the midst of the First World War, and this fact weighs heavily on all of his speculations. That war was a wakeup of sorts for the World that had been in many ways too complaisant about the dangers that had until then been more or less hidden from everyone's sight, and the consequences of this upheaval have been reverberating ever since. Consequently, if you are not too familiar with the historical and political developments that surrounded that period, or are not too inclined to read about the issues and concerns that were on people's mind at the time, then this book may not be of much interest to you. However, if you have any sort of inclination for history this book will provide you with some very interesting insights.

This book is more of a polemic than a scholarly or philosophical analysis. Nonetheless, Wells comes across as more informed and much more nuanced in his views and positions than many more famous political philosophers. He has no illusions about the war, but is very dismissive of naïve pacifism. He recognizes fully well a need for some form of trans-national body that could mediate in cases of conflict between different powers. The League of Nations and the United Nations are the later embodiments of this ideal. There are a few comments that Wells makes which could be considered politically incorrect today, but it is important to remember the mores of his time and not project our own onto him. Furthermore, these potentially risqué statements and sentiments are few and far between. For the most part Wells comes across as a very civil and well-intended commentator who harbors no malice to any of the people and institutions that he opposes. In fact, it is hard not to feel that today's political commentators and pundits could use a lesson or two from the measured tone in which "What is Coming?" was written.

H. G. Wells is rightfully considered one of the founding fathers of science fiction as a genre. Many of the themes in his science fiction books - time travel, alien invasion, biological manipulation - have in themselves become standard subgenera of the science fiction literature. However, aside from his fictional writing, Wells was also a very keen observer of social and political trends, and had a very refined sense of the import of the current events. I had known about this aspect of his career for a while, but until I came across "What is Coming?" I never had a chance to read about his musings on society and politics in his own words. This book turned out to be an excellent introduction to these topics. However, if you were considering reading this book I would warn you about a couple of things. First of all, as already mentioned, these are Wells' musings on political and social future, and are not his predictions of what future technological breakthroughs may come. There are no speculations about spaceships, robots, or any other topic favored by futurists. Second, this book was written in 1916 in the midst of the First World War, and this fact weighs heavily on all of his speculations. That war was a wakeup of sorts for the World that had been in many ways too complaisant about the dangers that had until then been more or less hidden from everyone's sight, and the consequences of this upheaval have been reverberating ever since. Consequently, if you are not too familiar with the historical and political developments that surrounded that period, or are not too inclined to read about the issues and concerns that were on people's mind at the time, then this book may not be of much interest to you. However, if you have any sort of inclination for history this book will provide you with some very interesting insights.

This book is more of a polemic than a scholarly or philosophical analysis. Nonetheless, Wells comes across as more informed and much more nuanced in his views and positions than many more famous political philosophers. He has no illusions about the war, but is very dismissive of naïve pacifism. He recognizes fully well a need for some form of trans-national body that could mediate in cases of conflict between different powers. The League of Nations and the United Nations are the later embodiments of this ideal. There are a few comments that Wells makes which could be considered politically incorrect today, but it is important to remember the mores of his time and not project our own onto him. Furthermore, these potentially risqué statements and sentiments are few and far between. For the most part Wells comes across as a very civil and well-intended commentator who harbors no malice to any of the people and institutions that he opposes. In fact, it is hard not to feel that today's political commentators and pundits could use a lesson or two from the measured tone in which "What is Coming?" was written.

H.G.Wells wrote a very good book. What is it? This one! He was right about many things except about Germany not wanting to be in another war for many generations.