H.G. Wells was an English author and one of the most notable public intellectuals of his time.
After failing as a draper, a chemist’s assistant, and a teacher, Wells came to the public attention with a series of exciting and thought-provoking science fiction tales, including The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, and The First Men in the Moon. As well as some darker work most notably The Island of Doctor Moreau.
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These became some of the prototypes of the young genre. But Wells was interested in much more, and he went on to write conventional novels, popular science, essays, history, social criticism, and even a charming little book on wargaming. His work The Outline of History was a very influential study of the development of human civilization and remains in print today.
Wells was a Fabian socialist and a religious free-thinker. His predictions of future social and technological developments included the suburb, the spaceship, the armored tank, and the atomic bomb.
