This is the first new complete biography of H G Wells for thirty years, and the first to encompass his entire career as a writer, from the science fiction of the 1890s through his fiction and non-fiction writing all the way up to his last publication in 1946. It provides a comprehensive reassessment of Wells's importance as a novelist, short-story writer, a theorist of social prophecy and utopia, journalist and commentator: the man who coined the phrases 'atom bomb', 'League of Nations' 'the war to end war' and 'time machine', who wrote the world's first comprehensive global history and invented the idea of the tank. 26 chapters cover the entirety of Wells life and discuss every book and short story he produced during his long life, aiming for a complete vision of this enduring figure.

Adam Roberts is Professor of Nineteenth-century Literature and Culture at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK, and also an award-winning writer of science fiction. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Vice-President of the H G Wells Society.