Earth Abides was written by George R. Stewart in 1949. I have only just discovered it very recently, having missed it in my youth when my reading time was largely spent with Sci-Fi authors such as Heinlein, Asimov, Clarke, Tolkien, and so many others. It came to my attention through the recommendation of friends here on Amazon, and I'm glad that I learned about it and was able to read it.
The title of the book is taken from Ecclesiastes, 1:4 "Men go and come, but earth abides".
The story begins after a virus wipes out most of mankind. It chronicles the lives of a small 'tribe' of survivors, told through the eyes of one man, who becomes the de-facto leader of the group and reflects on mankind and our civilization as he tells the story of the progress of that small group over the course of several decades.
This is a book that tells a post-apocalyptic story in a very different way. It suggests the question - would survivors from a disaster that devastated most of humanity chose to rebuild society as it was before, or would they go in a different direction? The world of Earth Abides did not suffer the destruction of a global war, the landscape is not contaminated with radioactive fallout, and so all of mankind's structures and products still exist until they begin to deteriorate and decay away over time. Would the survivors in such a world simply make use of the leftovers from the predecessor society and allow the training and skills that stood behind the development of those resources to decay? Would they use those products without thinking of what will be done once they have run out and cannot be replenished, forcing them to find new ways to build and survive? At what point would they be forced to learn to survive on their own wits? There is only a small amount of angst or conflict between different surviving groups (some, but very little), and no mention whatsoever of zombies or other such constructs that would likely be part of any similar novel written today. Instead, Stewart's book is a contemplative and reflective narrative that describes how this small 'tribe' of people survive and develop over the first few decades following the apocalypse. His world is believable and realistic given the events that have occurred. It is thought-provoking, sad and tragic in places, and thoroughly engaging. It is well worth the read.
Earth Abides was originally published as a mainstream novel and was soon embraced by the science fiction community. It was the very first winner of the International Fantasy Award, and has appeared on many 'best of' lists over the years. It has continuously remained in print since it was first published in 1949. (And while there is an extensive article on the book in wikipedia, I would point out that if you have not read the book yet, the wiki article contains a complete synopsis of the book and includes many spoilers).
I have this book in both paperback and Kindle format:
Earth Abides (Kindle)
, and
Earth Abides (paperback)
. The two are equivalent except for the very interesting introductory essay included with the paperback version, which was written by Connie Willis (eleven-time Hugo-award winner and seven-time Nebula award winner, see for example
Fire Watch
).
Stewart has also written a number of other highly-regarded books. I have not read any of these others myself (yet), but I'll list some of his most well-known books here for those who may have enjoyed Earth Abides and want to explore his writing further:
-
Names on the Land: A Historical Account of Place-Naming in the United States (New York Review Books Classics)
. I have purchased this book for myself but have not yet read it.
-
Ordeal by Hunger: The Story of the Donner Party
-
Storm (California Legacy)
-
Fire
-
Pickett's Charge
- a very highly regarded history of the final attack at Gettysburg
In her introduction to the paperback version of Earth Abides, Connie Willis mentions that "in writing Storm and Fire, he was inventing a new genre: the disaster novel... Hollywood has used not only his story structure of a step-by-step account of a disaster as seen through the eyes of a group of characters caught in it, but his most brilliant innovation: the making of the catastrophe itself into a character... The true heroes, and his novels' most riveting, original characters, were the natural forces".
Stewart was a professor at the University of California, Berkeley for over 50 years. He was friend and contemporary to Wallace Stegner, another Bay-Area based writer of some note (his novel
Angle of Repose
won the Pulitzer Prize in 1972). Stegner greatly admired Stewarts writing, and included 'Names on the Land' on his 'must-read' list for American Non-Fiction, and 'Earth Abides' on his 'must-read' list for American Fiction (recommending that it be read alongside William M. Miller Jr.'s classic "
A Canticle for Leibowitz
").
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Reviews with images
Great book
Earth Abides inspired the Playstation game and HBO-Max tv show: The Last Of us. The book follows Ish as he's spending some time away from civilization in a remote cabin in the hills. Ish is bitten by a snake and is in quite a bit of pain and delusion. While Ish is recovering the world goes into a full Pandemic and no one is thought to be left alive. Follow Ish as he's the last known person on the planet. Written in the 1940's and follows the Cordyceps infection that plaques the world. A must buy for anyone that follows the game or TV show.
Top reviews from other countries
Lynn Robinson
The title of the book “Earth Abides” provides it’s greatest lesson: one of hope and promise.
Reviewed in Canada on March 26, 2019
Kindle Customer
Ive always loved this book
Reviewed in Australia on November 29, 2018