Huxley's nightmare vision of the fate of humanity in a post-nuclear world
In February 2108, the New Zealand Rediscovery Expedition reaches California at last. It is over a century since the world was devastated by nuclear war, but the blight of radioactivity and disease still gnaws away at the survivors. The expedition expects to find physical destruction but they are quite unprepared for the moral degradation they meet. Ape and Essence is Huxley's vision of the ruin of humanity, told with all his knowledge and imaginative genius.
“The ultimate horror vision -- but one not without humor”
Los Angeles Times
“Ape and Essence leaves us in mingled respect of the author's intelligence and disgust for the world he had created”
Independent
“Clever, brutal, thoughtful, original...a nauseating vision of a still-possible future”
Anthony Burgess
“Powerfully moving”
Times Literary Supplement
“Painfully and majestically vivid; it is a great piece of work”
Guardian