The World Set Free

First published in 1914, The World Set Free is one of H. G. Wells’s most visionary and unsettling novels. Written before the atomic age, it imagines a future in which humanity discovers a new source of energy so powerful that it changes civilization forever—and unleashes weapons of unprecedented destructive force.With extraordinary prophetic insight, Wells anticipates the idea of the atomic bomb and explores the terrifying consequences of scientific progress without moral control. Yet this is not only a novel of catastrophe. It is also a story of transformation: from war to reconstruction, from national rivalries to the dream of a world government, from destruction to the possibility of a new human order.Blending science fiction, political imagination and philosophical reflection, The World Set Free stands as one of the most remarkable works of early twentieth-century speculative literature. Its pages reveal both the anxieties and the hopes of a modern world standing on the edge of forces it does not yet fully understand.A prophetic, powerful and visionary novel by one of the fathers of science fiction.H. G. Wells (1866–1946) was an English writer, journalist and social thinker, widely regarded as one of the fathers of modern science fiction. His most famous works include The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man and The Island of Doctor Moreau. Through his fiction, Wells explored scientific discovery, social change, war, progress and the future of humanity. Visionary and often prophetic, he remains one of the most influential authors of the twentieth century.