Synopsis: From the back cover of the Prentice-Hall trade paperback: "Reflecting the author's education in science and his preoccupation with wars and violence, the novels of H. W. Wells remain acknowledged forerunners of science fiction and masterful examples of imaginative writing. In this volume such authorities as David Lodge, V.S. Pritchett, Anthony West, and Bernard Bergonzi examine the style and content of Wells's novels. They explore Wells's pendular swings between apocalyptic doomsayer and Utopian visionary in such works as The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, and Tono-Bungay. The commentators in this book also analyze the outside influences that so radically colored Wells's outlook, from the rigid social structure of Victorian England to socialism, which Wells hoped would solve mankind's problems. This book will help readers understand H.G. Wells, as a man and as an author who mirrored the fears and hopes of mankind in the face of rapid social and economic change."