The Autocracy of Mr. Parham
Herbert George Wells was born in Bromley, Kent in 1866, the son of a tradesman and professional cricketer. In early life he worked as an apprentice to a draper and in 1884 he won a scholarship to the Normal School of Science in South Kensington under the tutorage of T H Huxley. His time there was to have a lasting influence on his life and subsequent writing. H G Wells first found literary acclaim with The Time Machine which appeared in 1895 and was the first novel to introduce the concept of time travel. This was followed by The Wonderful Visit, The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Invisible Man and The War of the Worlds. These books alone were enough to establish an entirely new genre  - that of science fiction. Although it is for these works of science fiction that he is best remembered, H G Wells was in fact a prolific and extremely versatile writer. He was the author of a number of tracts, social and political satires, and stern warnings about the future of civilisation. A remarkably accurate prophet, he foresaw both World Wars and the atomic bomb, and the realization of these visions accounted for much of the pessimism in his later works. In 1934 he published his autobiography, An Experiment In Autobiography, which serves as an invaluable reflection of the people and cultures of his times. H G Wells died in 1946. His obituary in The New York Times hailed him as 'one of the outstanding contemporary literary figures'.--This text refers to thePaperbackedition.