> Skip to content
  • Published: 1 February 2016
  • ISBN: 9780241976760
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 176
  • RRP: $23.00

The Rights of Man





H. G. Wells' seminal human rights manifesto reissued with an original introduction by Ali Smith

Written in 1940 in response to the ongoing war with Germany, this fearlessly progressive manifesto of universal human rights addresses itself to the question of what Britain was fighting for - what a just and stable world should and could look like. After the Second World War concluded, it became the inspiration for the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the EU's European Convention on Human Rights and the UK's Human Rights Act. It continues to be an utterly apposite political text in our modern world.

In view of the current humanitarian crisis facing the international community, and in light of the British government's plans to dismantle our Human Rights Act, Hamish Hamilton are reissuing H. G. Wells' seminal humanitarian manifesto. With a new introduction by Ali Smith, this is campaigning publishing intended to stimulate debate and contribute to one of the most vitally important fights of our era.

  • Published: 1 February 2016
  • ISBN: 9780241976760
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 176
  • RRP: $23.00

About the author

H. G. Wells

English novelist, journalist, sociologist, and historian, whose science fiction stories have been filmed many times. WELLS’ best known works are THE TIME MACHINE, one of the first modern science fiction stories, THE INVISIBLE MAN, and THE WAR OF THE WORLDS. Wells wrote over a hundred of books, about fifty of them novels.

H.G. Wells was born in Bromley, Kent, in 1866. After an education repeatedly interrupted by his family’s financial problems, he eventually found work as a teacher at a succession of schools, where he began to write his first stories.
Wells became a prolific writer with a diverse output, of which the famous works are his science fiction novels. These are some of the earliest and most influential examples of the genre, and include classics such as The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds. Most of his books very well-received, and had a huge influence on many younger writers, including George Orwell and Isaac Asimov. Wells also wrote many popular non-fiction books, and used his writing to support the wide range of political and social causes in which he had an interest, although these became increasingly eccentric towards the end of his life.
Twice-married, Wells had many affairs, including a ten-year liaison with Rebecca West that produced a son. He died in London in 1946.

Also by H. G. Wells

See all