Books by Robert Hugh Benson

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Science fiction as a genre of literature was not differentiated in the minds of publishers from fantasy tales until nearly the middle of the Twentieth Century-and that sentence may inflame affectionados of the form but so be it. Is Edward Bellamy's Looking Backwards a political fantasy or science fiction dealing with politics and economics? Good question. The answer is in the mind of the reader.In the mind of the author of Lord of the World brewed a saga dealing with an uncertain future date when the world is split into warring factions of radical socialists, each in control of one or more continents. Benson calls them communists but he does not have the Leninist-Stalinist-Maoist type communists in mind, just utopian socialists who have abolished most aspect of a capitalist society but retained a semblance of representative-if authoritarian-government. Throughout the world there is universal health care but it advocates euthanasia for those who are depressed, ill or injured. People fly from place to place on transports that double as bombers. A charismatic American politician manages to gain control of all of the continental factions, ending their internecine wars, and uniting them in the task of eliminating religion by bombing the principle headquarters of religious institutions. Survivors are pursued relentlessly. It is a well told tale by a contemporary of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Franz Kafka and Jules Verne.Robert Hugh Benson's 1907 novel arrived in the same era as L. Frank Baum's Ozma of Oz, G.K. Chesterton's The Man who was Thursday, Kenneth Graham's Wind in the Willows, H. Rider Haggard's Yellow God; An Idol of Africa, and H.G. Well's War in the Air. It is a science fiction period piece but in November of 2013, Pope Francis said that it depicted, "the spirit of the world which leads to apostasy almost as if it were a prophecy." Who knew the Pope read science fiction?

Lord of the World is Robert Hugh Benson's sci-fi novel about the approach of the apocalypse and emergence of the Antichrist in an alternate timeline.First published in 1907, this novel is commonly cited as one of the earliest examples of dystopian fiction. At the time the author was strongly opposed to the view of H. G. Wells that a combination of technology and new political ideologies would lead to a boundless utopia for mankind, with religious belief rejected in favor of broad secularism. Repelled by this popular vision of the future, Benson set out to create his own. Lord of the World was the result of his endeavor: it depicts a future in which the Labour Party abolishes many of the scientific, commercial and religious bodies of the United Kingdom, resulting in a mono-culture of communistic rule. The world meanwhile is split between two superpowers - the Eastern Empire whose rule stretches across most of Asia, and the British Empire.

First published in 1907, "Lord of the World" is the dystopian work of science fiction by Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson which depicts the rise of the Anti-Christ and the ensuing end of the world. The novel begins with a prologue set in early 21st century London in which the history of the last century is described. A global rise of Marxism has divided the world up into three power-blocs; a European Confederation of Marxist one-party states, an Eastern Empire comprised of the former Asian and Oceanic countries, and an American Republic comprised of North, South, and Central America. Culture and politics is now dominated by a mix of Marxism, atheism, and secular humanism. As tensions between the European Confederation and the Eastern Empire inch the world ever closer to global war, a dynamic American politician, Vermont Senator Julian Felsenburgh, furiously crisscrosses the globe in charge of the American Republic's peace delegation. Felsenburgh through a wave of populist support and Machiavellian power plays arises to become leader of the world. Simultaneously Father Percy Franklin works against the global disintegration of religious faith. What follows is an apocalyptic conflict between these two dynamically opposed forces. Heralded as prophetic by religious leaders like Pope Francis, "Lord of the World" presents a not implausible dystopian imagination of the end of the world. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper.

1907 Dystopian Science Fiction, Alternate History "You must give me a moment," said the old man, leaning back. Percy resettled himself in his chair and waited, chin on hand. It was a very silent room in which the three men sat, furnished with the extreme common sense of the period. It had neither window nor door; for it was now sixty years since the world, recognising that space is not confined to the surface of the globe, had begun to burrow in earnest. Old Mr. Templeton's house stood some forty feet below the level of the Thames embankment, in what was considered a somewhat commodious position, for he had only a hundred yards to walk before he reached the station of the Second Central Motor-circle, and a quarter of a mile to the volor-station at Blackfriars. He was over ninety years old, however, and seldom left his house now. The room itself was lined throughout with the delicate green jade-enamel prescribed by the Board of Health, and was suffused with the artificial sunlight...