• War and the Future

  • By: H. G. Wells
  • Narrated by: Shelly Frasier
  • Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
  • 3.9 out of 5 stars (40 ratings)

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War and the Future  By  cover art

War and the Future

By: H. G. Wells
Narrated by: Shelly Frasier
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Editorial reviews

Remembered as a prescient futurist and writer of canonical science fiction, H. G. Wells was also a reluctant cheerleader for the Allied effort in the First World War. Though he declared himself a pacifist, the news articles he wrote in defense of the war in 1916 are collected in the book War and the Future, a classic of wartime journalistic propaganda. Wells describes his visits to the front in France and an unlikely meeting with the King of Italy, and manages to dodge censors with his occasional criticisms of British officers. Wells remains scrutinizing and thoughtful for a soapboxer and narrator Shelly Frasier's reading brings a clear-eyed intensity to this memorable work.

Publisher's summary

H.G. Wells sets forth an intriguing first-hand observation of Italy, France, and Britain under severe duress during the "War to End All Wars," World War I. He insightfully examines the technological effects of modern warfare, particularly the introduction of the tank and aerial bombing on human nature. Two prophetic visions of his philosophy to truly end all war are revealed: the control of war weapons and the creation of a world state.
©2001 Tantor Media, Inc. (P)2001 Tantor Media, Inc.

What listeners say about War and the Future

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Among the best I've read from Wells

I love some of Wells' science fiction and novels, but my favorite of his books are nonfiction. Stuff like the "Outline", "Anticipations", "Mankind in the Making", and this. He had such a talent to see the bigger picture, even in the midst of the Great War in a society that was saturated with nationalistic propaganda, he always sees humanity as it is.

Shelley's reading is excellent and fits the somber tone of the book, although sometimes it made me want to fall asleep.

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Is a classic World War I story

In general, it is a slow book, but with an interesting vision of the war from the ideological point of view of the English Empire.

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