H. G. Wells 
Men Like Gods 

In the summer of 1921, a disenchanted journalist escapes the rat race for a drive in the country. But Mr. Barnstaple’s trip exceeds his expectations when he and other motorists are swept 3, 000 years into the future. The inadvertent time travelers arrive in a world that corresponds exactly to Barnstaple’s ideals: a utopian state, free of crime, poverty, war, disease, and bigotry. Unfettered by the constraints of government and organized religion, the citizens lead rich, meaningful lives, passed in pursuit of their creative fancies. Barnstaple’s traveling companions, however, quickly contrive a scheme to remake the utopia in the image of their twentieth-century world.

A century after its initial publication, H. G. Wells’s novel offers an enduringly relevant look at an ideal society. Conceived in the aftermath of World War I, it reflects the failings of human nature but offers hope for the future, when men and women may live like gods.

Table of Content

Book the First: The Irruption of the Earthlings


I. Mr. Barnstaple Takes a Holiday


II. The Wonderful Road


III. The Beautiful people


IV. The Shadow of Einstein Falls Across the Story but Passes Lightly by


V. The Governance and History of Utopia


VI. Some Earthly Criticisms


VII. The Bringing in of Lord Barralonga’s Party


VIII. Early Morning in Utopia


 


Book the Second: Quarantine Crag


I. The Epidemic


II. The Castle on the Crag


III. Mr. Barnstaple as a Traitor to Mankind


IV. The End of Quarantine Crag


 


Book the Third: A Neophyte in Utopia


I. The Peaceful Hills Beside the River


II. A Loiterer in a Living World


III. The Service of the Earthling


IV. The Return of the Earthling


 

About the author

A pioneer of science fiction, H. G. Wells (1866–1946) wrote thrilling adventures about time travel, space exploration, alien invasion, and scientific experiments gone awry. His tales of obsession, revelation, and discovery remain compellingly readable and relevant.