A Year of Prophesying

Wells has it out with the League of Nations and Winston Churchill.

A Year of Prophesying contains 55 articles that were originally published in newspapers in 1924. The book is perhaps misnamed as there is not a great deal of prophesy contained within them. Instead the articles cover a wide variety of then current subjects and do much to explain the mood of the time. Several articles deal with Wells' disappointment with the League of Nations, and he opens with a strong one. Throughout the book there are several highlights and scattered bits of genius and much sharp wit. However, Wells plainly did not think much of this book, decribing it in his 1934 Experiment in Autobiography as: "incidental... (and that) the rare reader who may wander into (it) will find... nothing of essential novelty" (622). Still, though, many current readers would be prone to disagree. Time has passed and what lacked novelty then, now becomes a window into the past. Some of the more memorable articles include:

• The League of Nations and the Federation of Mankind
• Politics as a Public Nuisance
• Scrapping the Gold Standard
• The Fantasies of Mr. Belloc and the Future of the World
• Youth and the Vote: The Rejuvenescence of the World?
• Olive Branches of Steel: Should the Angels of Peace Carry Bombs?
• An Open Letter to Anatole France on His Eightieth Birthday
• Dictators or Politicians? The Dilemma of Civilisation
• The Serfdom of Ignorance: The Right of Women to Knowledge
• The Schools of a New Age: A Forecast
• The Triviality of Democracy and the Feminine Influence in Politics.

Also:

The Beauty of Flying:

"For the first part of my flight that day I was accompanied by three other Czech machines. The were fighting aeroplanes. They came up abreast of me in the liquid air, and their aviators signalled to me, and then, suddenly, they dived and swept over in a loop and fell down like dead leaves for a thousand feet or so and righted themselves and flew home again to Prague. I have seen such manoeuvers (sic) before from the ground, but they are far more graceful and lovely when one floats above them and watches the aeroplane drop down like a falling kite..." (12).

Winston:

"...After that Mr. Churchill lapses into sheer naughtiness. There are times when the evil spirit comes upon him and when I can think of him only as a very intractable little boy, a mischievous, dangerous little boy, a knee worthy little boy. Only by thinking of him that way can one go on liking him" (67).

Lenin:

"It is very important to grasp the fact that the former Russian political and social order was bankrupt and collapsed of its own accord, because it is the lesson that the private adventurers of the West are most loath to learn. Communism is not a dragon that devours healthy states; it is rather the scavenger of the rotten and fallen" (145).

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Last modified on Thursday, 12-Aug-1999 14:46:06 EDT