Earth Abides

George R. Stewart

Jan 1976 · Sold by HarperCollins

About this ebook

Soon to be an exciting series on MGM+!

The award-winning Earth Abides is one of the most influential science fiction novels of all time, a mix of dystopian horror and a literary exploration of loneliness. It remains a fresh, provocative--and all too relevant--story of apocalyptic pandemic, societal collapse, and rebirth. Includes an introduction by Kim Stanley Robinson!

“This is a book, mind you, that I'd place not only among the greatest science fiction but among our very best novels” – Boston Globe

For Isherwood Williams, his cabin has always been a haven from the demands of society. But one day while hiking, Ish is bitten by a rattlesnake, and the solitude he had so desired takes on dire new significance. Because not long after, the coughing begins. Then the chills and fever and a measles-like rash. He thinks it’s a reaction to the bite. What he doesn’t know that the venom might be the only thing that kept him alive.

For when Ish heads home the world is not as he left it. No cars pass, the gas station not far from his cabin looks abandoned, there’s nothing on the radio, and he is shocked to see the body of a man on the roadside near a small town. He has missed humanity’s abrupt demise, only to find himself at the center of society’s rebirth. This is a chance to start over, and as Ish gathers survivors to him, he discovers just how wondrous and terrible that proposition is.

And when, decades later, he looks back on his legacy, he is only starting to understand the challenge between enlightenment and practicality. He had left one world, rejoined another, and now leaves—hopefully—an even different world behind. Because, reluctantly or no, his words and actions carry weight for the next generation, and Ish’s vision of the future may be one of prophecy…or doom.

Ratings and reviews

A biting melancholy of an adventure, if you can call it adventure. True to life complacency and an intelligent stupor showing once again to be nearly as detrimental to our species as ignorance. Ready yourself for a swim in the murk of depression. But a good read none the less and being sixty plus years old still for the most part believable and none too awkward in today's era.

Great story of civilization's demise but the also renewal of the human race. I'm not sure that cars would be driveable after a few months -gasoline deteriorates very quickly. Ditto ammunition - five years at outside. Pollution in the Bay would last generations as well as in lakes and streams making the water undrinkeable. Maybe 100 years for wildlife to return. Food in cans gone after a few years. Survivors would HAVE to depend on agriculture and livestock in order to survive. Climate change still happens.

This book is not a technical manual for doomsday. It follows a protagonist who is eternally frustrated by the contrast between how he intends to rebuild society and how human nature commands civilization evolve. It is extremely well thought-out, and enjoyable in that thoroughness. At the same time, in places, the plot can seem slow to advance. When you read this book, remind yourself that the plot is not a plot, as most fiction has, but the beginning of the story of a new civilization.

About the author

George R. Stewart (1895–1980) is the author of Pickett’s Charge, Names on the Land, and the International Fantasy Award–winner Earth Abides, as well as numerous other books of history, biography, and fiction. He taught for more than fifty years at the University of California, Berkeley.