I had heard of this book and that it was very scarce, and that H. G. Wells was extremely pessimistic about the future of Mankind in this, his last book. All I can really say, is "true, true." Wells has a few excellent diagnostical comments to make upon the state of things right before WWII, but he got it so-o-o-o wrong. I don't think he realized what the United States would do upon the defeat of Japan and Nazi Germany. (Which is to say, he did not realize that the Marshall Plan would rebuild Europe and Japan, no questions asked and no guilt levied). We (the human race) came out of WWII in a much more optimistic state than Wells could imagine. Looking at it from the point of view of a modern reader, We seem to have 'muddled through.' I will still give the book 4 stars, because I think it is well worth reading by readers of the early 21st century. ( )