Books

London: Metuen & Co. Ltd, 1932. First edition, first issue. Told by the same "last man" who related the history of humanity's future in Last and First Men, this work describes the last man's exploration of the consciousness of present-day Englishman Paul. The advanced being experiences the world through Paul: his childhood, his service with an ambulance crew in the First World War, and his adult life as a schoolteacher. The semi-autobiographical nature of the novel creates a platform for Stapledon to expound on his own philosophies. After an English childhood very similar to Paul's, Stapledon served in the First World War as a conscientious objector, becoming an ambulance driver and earning the Croix de Guerre for bravery. He earned his PhD in philosophy from the University of Liverpool, and then turned to fiction as a means of spreading his ideas to a larger audience. Though a supporter of the war effort in the Second World War, Stapledon never lost his passion for pacifism and…

Last Men in London is a science fiction novel by Olaf Stapledon, first published in 1932. It is a sequel to Last and First Men.