Last and First Men

Olaf Stapledon's visionary 1930 novel traces the entire future history of humanity across two billion years and eighteen successive human species, from the near-future collapse of the First Men through cosmic catastrophe, transformation, and renewal on Venus and Neptune. Vastly influential on the science fiction genre — admired by Arthur C. Clarke, Virginia Woolf, and H.G. Wells alike — it remains one of the most ambitious feats of speculative imagination ever written.

This is a U.S. public-domain edition (entered the public domain in the United States in 2026, 95 years after first publication). It may still be under copyright in other countries.