Earth Abides

1949 Stewart, George [Rippey] (1895-1980). Earth Abides. New York: Random House. Rpt. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1969; Los Altos, CA: Hermes Publications, 1974; and Boston, MA: Mariner Editions/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020, with “Introduction to Earth Abides” by Kim Stanley Robinson (xi-xix). Collector’s Edition illus. Toni L. Taylor with an “Introduction” by Arthur O. Lewis (ix-xiv). Norwalk, CT: The Easton Press, 1991. The novel was adapted by David Ellis as a two-part serial for the CBS radio program Escape, which was broadcast November 5 and 12, 1950. DLC, PSt

Dystopia of catastrophe in which a pandemic kills all but a few people. The novel traces the life of one survivor who explores the U.S. and then settles in his old home near San Francisco. The novel then follows the slow growth of a small community that initially live off what was left behind but ultimately create the beginnings of a new society with the skills needed to live a simple, primitive life. The title reflects a recurring theme, that the earth will slowly adjust to the absence of human beings. Includes interracial marriage. The novel is at least in part a reworking of Jack London’s 1912 “The Scarlet Plague.” The author was a Professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley.