A riveting and brilliantly original exploration of our fantasies of the end of the world from Mary Shelley’s The Last Man to HBO’s The Last of Us, via Stanley Kubrick, J. G. Ballard, and Mad Max.
Dorian Lynskey explores stories of the end in fiction and film, from nuclear holocaust to collision with an asteroid, a revolt of the machines or a collapsing climate. Such fantasies of doom have been informed by political and scientific developments, and have shaped the narratives of politics, science and journalism in turn.
As the world emerges from a devastating pandemic and the news is full of wildfires, floods and hurricanes, as we focus on the implications of AI and the resurgent threat of nuclear war, these stories — and what they say about us — seem more relevant than ever. And yet every generation has had its own fears. We may expect the end, but so did our forebears. What is it in human nature that makes us imagine, and even crave, the ultimate conclusion to our story?
The result is nothing less than a cultural history of the modern world, weaving together politics, history, science, and high and popular culture, in a book that is grippingly readable and deeply illuminating about ourselves and our times.
