H. G. Wells (1866–1946) is one of those protean modern writers who are destined to last, no matter how critics lament his slapdash prose or deplore his involvement in dubious movements such as eugenics and Fabian socialism. Not even the ire of feminists can ultimately bring down this “womanizing” colossus of concepts and causes and books (he penned more than a hundred of them), not to mention the biographies and critical studies that continue to pullulate around this seminal figure.

Wells was truly a breathtaking writer. He broke into public consciousness with his early science fiction novels, The Time Machine (1895) and The Invisible Man (1897), virtually creating a new genre. Kipps (1905) and The History of Mr. Polly (1910) retain their status as greatly admired comic novels. Even with its flawed ending, Ann Veronica (1910) is one of the first English novels to explore the consciousness of the “new woman,” and it is still in print. The heavily autobiographical Tono Bungay (1909)—Wells’s bid to be taken seriously not only for his subject matter but also his style—has its place in the history of the English novel and on college syllabi. His Experiment in Autobiography (1934) and the posthumously published H. G. Wells in Love (1984) set a new standard for candor in discussing both public and private life. His Outline of History(1920), little read today, nevertheless had an enormous impact on the reading public and became a staple of household libraries, making world history a popular