A dazzling work of science fiction to which Dune, the Foundation trilogy, and 2001: A Space Odyssey owe a major debt.
Narrated telepathically by one of the Last Men, Olaf Stapledon’s epic history of the future caused a literary sensation when it first appeared in 1930. Over the course of two billion years, it seems, ever more alien versions of humankind will rise and fall — developing every sort of utopian and dystopian civilization only to descend into savagery again and again, until eventually the Earth’s resources are depleted.
This abridged edition takes us from the fall of the First Men to the initial efforts of the Fifth Men, the “last Terrestrials,” to colonize other planets!
Olaf Stapledon was a philosopher and science fiction writer. He published over twenty books throughout his career and is regarded as one of the most influential science fiction writers of the early twentieth century.
Matthew De Abaitua is Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Essex. His sf novel The Red Men was shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award. His sf novels IF THEN and The Destructives complete the loose trilogy. His book Self & I: A Memoir of Literary Ambition was shortlisted for the New Angle Prize for Literature.
“Last and First Men is a seminal work of cosmological sf a philosophical examination of the future evolution of humanity, inspirational to Arthur C. Clarke and so many of Stapledon’s successors. Great to see it included in the MIT Press’s Radium Age series.” —Charles Stross, Hugo and Locus award–winning author
“No book before or since has had such an impact on my imagination; the Stapledonian vistas of millions and hundreds of millions of years, the rise and fall of civilizations and entire races of men, changed my whole outlook on the universe and has influenced much of my writing ever since.” —Arthur C. Clarke, New York Times (March 6, 1983)
A dazzling work of science fiction to which Dune, the Foundation trilogy, and 2001: A Space Odyssey owe a major debt.
Narrated telepathically by one of the Last Men, Olaf Stapledon’s epic history of the future caused a literary sensation when it first appeared in 1930. Over the course of two billion years, it seems, ever more alien versions of humankind will rise and fall — developing every sort of utopian and dystopian civilization only to descend into savagery again and again, until eventually the Earth’s resources are depleted.
This abridged edition takes us from the fall of the First Men to the initial efforts of the Fifth Men, the “last Terrestrials,” to colonize other planets!
Creators
Olaf Stapledon was a philosopher and science fiction writer. He published over twenty books throughout his career and is regarded as one of the most influential science fiction writers of the early twentieth century.
Matthew De Abaitua is Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Essex. His sf novel The Red Men was shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award. His sf novels IF THEN and The Destructives complete the loose trilogy. His book Self & I: A Memoir of Literary Ambition was shortlisted for the New Angle Prize for Literature.
“Last and First Men is a seminal work of cosmological sf a philosophical examination of the future evolution of humanity, inspirational to Arthur C. Clarke and so many of Stapledon’s successors. Great to see it included in the MIT Press’s Radium Age series.” —Charles Stross, Hugo and Locus award–winning author
“No book before or since has had such an impact on my imagination; the Stapledonian vistas of millions and hundreds of millions of years, the rise and fall of civilizations and entire races of men, changed my whole outlook on the universe and has influenced much of my writing ever since.” —Arthur C. Clarke, New York Times (March 6, 1983)
