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The H. G. Wells Library
A curious library stands open at the edge of time. Here, the worlds of H. G. Wells are not merely remembered but awakened, their voices carried once more across the invisible ether. The H. G. Wells Library presents complete readings of tales that peer into futures yet unborn, confront the machinery of progress, and question the destiny of humankind itself. From silent laboratories to distant planets, each episode invites the listener to wander as both observer and traveller, discovering…
Episodes
- The H. G. Wells Library
Ann Veronica Chapter 4 - The crisis
In which a young lady, clad in a fanciful costume and armed with steadfast resolve, confronts the stern opposition of her father in a household torn by…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Ann Veronica Chapter 1 - Ann Veronica Talks to Her Father
In which a young woman of nearly twenty-two returns to her suburban home resolved to challenge the strict and watchful authority of her father over her…
- The H. G. Wells Library
Ann Veronica Chapter 2 - Ann Veronica gathers points of view
In which a spirited young lady named Ann Veronica finds herself in the company of the Widgetts and Miss Miniver, whose fervent discourse on woman’s place and…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Island of Doctor Moreau Chapter 22 - The Man Alone
In which the narrator finds himself alone upon the vast and silent ocean, reflecting deeply on his harrowing experiences and the unsettling transformation of…
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The Island of Doctor Moreau Chapter 20 - Alone With the Beast Folk
In which the lone narrator faces the fierce and strange Beast Folk with a mixture of resolve and desperation, wielding a cracked whip and a nearly empty…
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The Island of Doctor Moreau Chapter 21 - The Reversion of the Beast Folk
In which I awaken amid the Beast Folk on Moreau’s Island, finding uneasy companionship with a loyal Dog-man and tentative sway over their fragmented…
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The Island of Doctor Moreau Chapter 18 - The Finding of Moreau
In which the weary travellers set forth to discover the fate of Doctor Moreau, journeying through the dense wilds of the island guided by an uneasy company of…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Island of Doctor Moreau Chapter 19 - Montgomery's Bank Holiday
In which the sombre weight of loss and despair settles upon the island as Montgomery, overwhelmed by his plight, succumbs to drink and madness, leading to a…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Island of Doctor Moreau Chapter 16 - How the Beast Folk Taste Blood
In which I accompany Montgomery on a tense expedition through the island’s jungle, where we encounter Moreau’s grotesque creations and uncover troubling…
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The Island of Doctor Moreau Chapter 17 - A Catastrophe
In which the narrator, increasingly estranged from the grim experiments on the island, is grievously injured during a sudden outbreak of violence among…
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The Island of Doctor Moreau Chapter 14 - Doctor Moreau Explains
In which the enigmatic Doctor Moreau offers a lengthy and dispassionate explanation of his grisly experiments in altering living creatures, speaking candidly…
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The Island of Doctor Moreau Chapter 15 - Concerning the Beast Folk
In which the narrator awakens to the unsettling reality of the Beast Folk—grotesque hybrids bound by a strict Law designed to suppress their primal…
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The Island of Doctor Moreau Chapter 12 - The Sayers of the Law
In which the narrator finds himself among a grotesque assembly of altered creatures who solemnly impart to him the strange litany of their Law, a curious and…
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The Island of Doctor Moreau Chapter 13 - The Parley
In which the narrator finds himself at the water’s edge, seeking parley with Dr Moreau and his strange company, and confronts the grim paradox of men…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Island of Doctor Moreau Chapter 10 - The Crying of the Man
In which the narrator, weakened and confused, is tended to by Montgomery after a harrowing encounter during his explorations, and gradually recovers amidst the…
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The Island of Doctor Moreau Chapter 11 - The Hunting of the Man
In which the narrator, pursued and desperate, seeks refuge from his captors and encounters a peculiar simian creature who offers hesitant companionship and a…
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The Island of Doctor Moreau Chapter 8 - The Crying of the Puma
In which the narrator shares a troubled meal with Montgomery and observes his curious servant, whose pointed ears and furtive manner arouse a growing unease…
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The Island of Doctor Moreau Chapter 9 - The Thing in the Forest
In which the narrator ventures beyond the familiar enclosure into the shadowed forest and encounters strange, unsettling creatures whose half-human…
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The Island of Doctor Moreau Chapter 6 - The Evil-Looking Boatmen
In which I am rescued from the sea by a peculiar and grim-faced company who ferry me to a distant and verdant island, where a curious biological station is…
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The Island of Doctor Moreau Chapter 7 - The Locked Door
In which the narrator is confined to a locked room within a strange enclosure by two secretive men, whose taciturn manners and peculiar attendants stir uneasy…
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The Island of Doctor Moreau Chapter 4 - At the Schooner's Rail
In which the schooner approaches a mysterious island, and the narrator shares a quiet, star-lit conversation with Montgomery, whose sombre reminiscences and…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Island of Doctor Moreau Chapter 5 - The Man Who Had Nowhere to Go
In which the weary traveller awakens to a scene of chaos aboard the schooner, only to find himself cruelly cast adrift in a waterlogged dinghy, abandoned and…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Island of Doctor Moreau Chapter 2 - The Man Who Was Going Nowhere
In which a weary and famished wanderer slowly regains consciousness aboard a small trading schooner, where he encounters a pale and talkative medical passenger…
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The Island of Doctor Moreau Chapter 3 - The Strange Face
In which the narrator encounters a deformed and black-faced man aboard a grimy schooner laden with a menagerie of captive beasts, and witnesses the tension…
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The Island of Doctor Moreau Chapter 1 - In the Dingey of the "Lady Vain"
In which a solitary survivor recounts the harrowing ordeal of drifting in a small dinghy after the wreck of the Lady Vain, enduring grievous thirst and…
- The H. G. Wells Library
The Island of Doctor Moreau Introduction
In which the curious circumstances surrounding the disappearance and reappearance of Edward Prendick are recounted through an introductory account by his…
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A Short History of the World Chapter 67 - The Political and Social Reconstruction of the World
In which the weary world emerges from the Great War burdened with rancour and unresolved strife, as the ill-fated Treaty of Versailles attempts vainly to…
- The H. G. Wells Library
A Short History of the World Chapter 68 - Chronological table
In which the highlights of the history of our world is presented line by line.
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A Short History of the World Chapter 65 - The Age of Armament in Europe, and the Great War of 1914-18
In which the confining boundaries of Europe and the rise of new empires set the stage for a devastating conflict, as nations arm themselves amidst uneasy…
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A Short History of the World Chapter 66 - The Revolution and Famine in Russia
In which the weary and immense Russian Empire, beleaguered by war and inefficiency, undergoes a profound upheaval as the Tsardom collapses under the weight of…
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A Short History of the World Chapter 63 - European Aggression in Asia, and the Rise of Japan
In which the restless ambitions of European powers sweep across Asia, carving up its vast and ancient lands with little regard for their rich histories, only…
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A Short History of the World Chapter 64 - The British Empire in 1914
In which the vast and multifaceted British Empire of 1914 is surveyed with an eye to its unique political composition and the varied nature of its dominions…
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A Short History of the World Chapter 61 - The Rise of Germany to Predominance in Europe
In which the uneasy peace of post-Napoleonic Europe gives way to renewed conflicts shaped by industrial progress, national ambitions, and shifting alliances…
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A Short History of the World Chapter 62 - The New Overseas Empires of the Steamship and Railway
In which the evolution of overseas empires is quietly traced from the stagnation of sparse coastal holdings to the transformative influence of steamships…
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A Short History of the World Chapter 59 - The Development of Modern Political and Social Ideas
In which the gradual evolution of political and social ideas is traced from ancient times through to the ferment of eighteenth-century thought, marked by bold…
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A Short History of the World Chapter 60 - The Expansion of the United States
In which the vast expansion and unification of the United States is traced through the transformative power of steamboats, railways, and telegraphs that wove…
- The H. G. Wells Library
A Short History of the World Chapter 57 - The Development of Material Knowledge
In which the gradual blossoming of scientific understanding and mechanical innovation during the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries quietly transformed the…
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A Short History of the World Chapter 58 - The Industrial Revolution
In which we observe the profound distinction between the mechanical revolution, a novel blossoming of organised science and invention, and the industrial…
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A Short History of the World Chapter 55 - The French Revolution and the Restoration of Monarchy in France
In which the tumultuous collapse of the French monarchy unfolds amidst deep social injustices and an eager populace rising to dismantle the ancien régime…
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A Short History of the World Chapter 56 - The Uneasy Peace in Europe that Followed the Fall of Napoleon
In which the uneasy peace following Napoleon’s fall is explored through the restorationist impulses of European monarchies and the fraught rearrangement of…
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A Short History of the World Chapter 53 - The New Empires of the Europeans in Asia and Overseas
In which the restless energies of Western European nations are seen stretching beyond their continent, carving out vast overseas empires through trade…
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A Short History of the World Chapter 54 - The American War of Independence
In which the gradual emergence of European settlements in America is portrayed as an unpremeditated transplanting of culture and political ambition, laying the…
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A Short History of the World Chapter 51 - The Emperor Charles V
In which the reign of Emperor Charles V unfolds as a grand yet troubled spectacle of inherited power, religious strife, and persistent conflict with rival…
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A Short History of the World Chapter 52 - The Age of Political Experiments; of Grand Monarchy and Parliaments and Republicanism in Europe
In which the dissolution of old empires and religious unities propels Europe into a restless age of political experiments, as monarchies vie with emerging…
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A Short History of the World Chapter 49 - The Intellectual Revival of the Europeans
In which the gradual rekindling of European intellect is traced through the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries, marked by the revival of learning, the…
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A Short History of the World Chapter 50 - The Reformation of the Latin Church
In which the Latin Church, once a towering autocracy over Christendom, undergoes profound upheaval amidst growing scepticism, popular revolts, and the…
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A Short History of the World Chapter 47 - Recalcitrant Princes and the Great Schism
In which the complex and often fraught process of papal election reveals the vulnerabilities of the Roman Church's authority, as rival princes and monarchs vie…
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A Short History of the World Chapter 48 - The Mongol Conquests
In which the astonishing rise of the Mongol horsemen is traced from their humble nomadic beginnings to a vast empire stretching across Asia and into Eastern…
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A Short History of the World Chapter 45 - The Development of Latin Christendom
In which the ebb and flow of empire and peoples weave a complex tapestry across Europe, as Latin Christendom takes shape amidst feudal bonds, rival princes…
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A Short History of the World Chapter 46 - The Crusades and the Age of Papal Dominion
In which the emergence of a vast Arab civilisation stands contrasted with the fracturing of Christendom, as the papacy seizes an opportunity to unite the…
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A Short History of the World Chapter 43 - Muhammad and Islam
In which the story unfolds of a restless and divided world on the brink of transformation, where from the seemingly insignificant sands of the Arabian desert…
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A Short History of the World Chapter 44 - The Great Days of the Arabs
In which the swift and sweeping conquests of the Arabs from the deserts of Arabia to the far reaches of Spain and China are recounted, revealing not only the…
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A Short History of the World Chapter 41 - The Byzantine and Sassanid Empires
In which the tenacity of the Byzantine Empire is traced through its struggles against barbarians and the Sassanid Persians, highlighting the religious…
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A Short History of the World Chapter 42 - The Dynasties of Suy And Tang in China
In which the rise and fall of dynasties in China are portrayed against a vast backdrop of shifting peoples, as the Mongolian nomads replace earlier Aryan…
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A Short History of the World Chapter 39 - The Barbarians Break the Empire into East and West
In which the once-mighty Roman Empire, beleaguered by restless barbarian tribes and internal strife, gradually divides into eastern and western halves amid…
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A Short History of the World Chapter 40 - The Huns and the End of the Western Empire
In which the inexorable westward push of the Mongolian Huns under their fierce leader Attila precipitates the unraveling of the venerable Roman Empire, as this…
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A Short History of the World Chapter 37 - The Teaching of Jesus
In which a singular and earnest teacher arises in the sun-baked lands of Judea, preaching a bold doctrine of universal fatherhood and a kingdom not of earth…
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A Short History of the World Chapter 38 - The Development of Doctrinal Christianity
In which we observe how the early Christian faith, shaped notably by St. Paul’s vigorous intellect and borrowed ceremonial elements, wrestled with profound…
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A Short History of the World Chapter 35 - The Common Man’s Life Under the Early Roman Empire
In which the vast and varied Roman Empire of the early centuries A.D. is portrayed through the daily lives of its common people, revealing a complex mosaic of…
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A Short History of the World Chapter 36 - Religious Developments Under the Roman Empire
In which the restless spirit of man under the Roman Empire is revealed through a weary and complex religious landscape, where ancient gods are transformed…