6 h 55 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if a nation's future matters more than its past—and its energy has no clear direction?
In The Future in America, H. G. Wells travels through the United States with a question: what is this country becoming? His 1906 account follows cities, money, politics, labour and race. New York stands at the centre of his picture, with towers, traffic and wealth rising side by side.
Wells admires America's drive, but he worries about growth without a plan. He considers the situation of black Americans, unrest among working people and the power of private interests. Encounters with political figures, including President Theodore Roosevelt, sharpen his question: can leaders steer a nation whose energy pulls in so many directions?
What you’ll discover
- A future-facing journey Follow an English observer who judges a country by what it might become.
- New York in motion See towers, traffic and wealth as signs of both ambition and unplanned growth.
- A promise under strain Explore how race and labour unrest test Wells's view of America's future.
- Power and private interests Consider what political leadership can achieve in a country driven by private effort.
- Admiration with an edge Meet a restless mind drawn to American energy, yet troubled by its direction.
Who will love it
Readers who love sharp travel writing, early twentieth century America, big questions about where nations are heading, and the voice of a famous storyteller turned social observer.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A prophet explains his strange habit
- A nation's future lies in its will
- Progress looks automatic from a liner deck
- Growth is vast, but often unruly
- Wealth gathers in few hands
- Graft, immigrants, and a missing sense of the state
- Two prisoners of hasty judgment
- Minds that could steer the country
- The effort is worth it
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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Il futuro in America
by H. G. Wells · 1906
An English writer sails to New York in 1906 to ask what a young nation will make of its future.
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In short
The Future in America is a travel book and a long essay by H. G. Wells, the English author of The Time Machine. He sailed to the United States in 1906 and wrote up what he saw for newspaper readers, then gathered it as a book.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A prophet explains his strange habit
Wells opens with the entry form every visitor must fill in, which asks whether he is a polygamist or an anarchist. He answers politely, because he badly wants to see the country. His reason is a problem that he admits looks absurd. He compares himself to an ant crawling over an elephant, and the elephant is the United States.
He then explains why anyone would think this way. He is, he says, curiously uninterested in things as they are and curiously interested in what they lead to. He borrows the saying of Heraclitus that there is no being but becoming. He admits that this habit makes him a little blind to beauty in the present moment, and that he would not cross an ocean to see a place for what it merely is.
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What is The Future in America about?
It records H. G. Wells's 1906 trip to the United States. He visits New York, Boston, Chicago and Washington, and asks what the country's will, wealth, politics, immigrants and universities suggest about its future.
When was The Future in America written?
Wells made his trip in the spring of 1906, in the time of President Theodore Roosevelt, and wrote it up soon afterward. It is a real travel account, based on his own visits and conversations.
What does Wells mean by the sense of the state?
He means the idea that private business and daily life belong inside a larger whole that affects other people and lasts beyond one lifetime. He finds that many Americans, rich and ordinary, lack it.
The author
H. G. Wells
1866–1946 · English science fiction novelist
H. G. Wells (1866–1946) was an English writer born in Bromley, Kent. He wrote novels, short stories and nonfiction. His novels included The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897) and The War of the Worlds (1898). He died in London.
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