H.G. Wells, born in the London suburb of Bromley in 1866, began his literary career in earnest in 1895 with the publication of his first novel, “The Time Machine.” Until this first success his life had been a patchwork of unsatisfactory drapery and chemist apprenticeships that were interrupted by stints as a teacher’s assistant, and eventually acceptance into London’s Normal School of Science where he studied biology under Darwin’s “bull dog,” the great T.H. Huxley. The 1890’s saw the publication of the “scientific romances” that were to make him the most successful author of his time. Following “The Time Machine” was “The Island of Dr. Moreau” (1896), “The Invisible Man” (1897), “The War of the Worlds” (1898), “When the Sleeper Wakes” (1899), and “The First Men in the Moon” (1901). After this point he turned his prolific pen to social topics, history, and even a bit of hopeful prophecy with books like “Anticipations” (1901), “The Discovery of the Future” (1902), “Mankind in the Making”… read more
H.G. Wells, born in the London suburb of Bromley in 1866, began his literary career in earnest in 1895 with the publication of his first novel, “The Time Machine.” Until this first success his life had been a patchwork of unsatisfactory drapery and chemist apprenticeships that were interrupted by stints as a teacher’s assistant, and eventually acceptance into London’s Normal School of Science where he studied biology under Darwin’s “bull dog,” the great T.H. Huxley. The 1890’s saw the publication of the “scientific romances” that were to make him the most successful author of his time. Following “The Time Machine” was “The Island of Dr. Moreau” (1896), “The Invisible Man” (1897), “The War of the Worlds” (1898), “When the Sleeper Wakes” (1899), and “The First Men in the Moon” (1901). After this point he turned his prolific pen to social topics, history, and even a bit of hopeful prophecy with books like “Anticipations” (1901), “The Discovery of the Future” (1902), “Mankind in the Making” (1903), “The Future in America” (1906), “The War in the Air” and “New Worlds for Old” (1908), “What is Coming” (1916), “War and the Future” (1917), “The Salvaging of Civilisation” (1921), “The Open Conspiracy” (1928), “The Shape of Things to Come” (1933), and “The New World Order” (1939). A revolutionary in thought and deed, Wells was often the subject of public controversy owing to his attitude on so-called “free love” and women’s rights. He was also a life-long believer in Socialism as the means to mankind’s ultimate social salvation. His particular brand had nothing to do with the retrogressive Marxist strain and also helped bring him in conflict with other leading Socialist thinkers of his day during his brief stint with The Fabian Society. The outbreak of the First World War found a heretofore pacifist Wells changing his mind to support of this Great War against the Hohenzollern “Blood and Iron” Imperial aggression. He reacted by writing a pamphlet in 1914 addressing the anti-war and pacifist elements in Britain entitled “The War That Will End War.” Its title became proverbial almost instantly and is used to refer to the First World War even today. After spending time with the British government’s War Office in the Propaganda Department and helping to define a clear set of war aims, he resigned and returned to writing propaganda his way. Even before the Great War began he published “The World Set Free” early in 1914. It was a prophetic novel about a world war against Imperial Germany and her “Central European Allies” which included a remarkably accurate forecast of atomic warfare and even coined the term “atomic bomb.” He was among the first to call for a post war League of Nations but was bitterly disappointed with and critical of the actual League that developed. He spent the early part of the 1920’s writing “The Outline of History,” which like so many of his previous works was also enormously successful on both sides of the Atlantic. The 1930’s found H.G. profoundly disturbed by the rising din of Nietzschean nationalism from Nazi Germany and Fascism in Italy. His critical writings on the aggressive “Krupp cum Kaiser” Imperial Germany coupled with his outright vicious attacks on Adolf Hitler and his accomplices earned H.G. Wells the distinction of having his “anti-German” books burned by Goebbels during the infamous book bonfires at German universities. The name “H.G. Wells” also appeared very near the top of a list compiled by the SS/SD command staff of those intellectuals and politicians slated for immediate liquidation upon the invasion of Britain by the Nazis. Winston Churchill was also named. He remained at his London flat off Regent’s Park throughout the war and walked his own fire watch, even as his equally wealthy neighbors fled the Luftwaffe’s Blitz to their comfortable country estates. He died quietly at home on 13 August 1946. In any appraisal the 20th century, H.G. Wells must be considered among its very most important and influential thinkers and authors. Evidence of his influence can be found in Hollywood to this day in recent films such as “The Island of Dr. Moreau,” the Dreamworks version of “The Time Machine;” and also the unspoken but obvious (and rather clumsy) copying of his original ideas and themes in films like “Independence Day” and “Hollow Man.” —IMDb
