End of the World Books

As the Mayan calendar comes to an end this December, and rumors of an impending global catastrophe abound, end of the world books have surged in popularity. Yet many are unaware that this extreme genre of fiction has been around for centuries, producing many bestsellers that also went on to become cult classics and were eventually made into movies.

While the genre is currently experiencing unprecedented success among young adult novels, from The Hunger Games trilogy to Victoria Foyt’s Revealing Eden (Save the Pearls Part One), one of the first dystopian novels written in English dates back to 1826, Mary Shelley’s The Last Man, which tells the story of a future world emptied of humanity by the plague. In 1885, Richard Jeffries wrote about a few survivors living an almost medieval existence in England, after a catastrophe depopulated the country in the aptly named After London.

In 1898, H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds became one of the most famous end of the world books of all time, re-written and adapted many times into television programs, radio shows and even video games, complete with modern twists and settings. The story tells of an earth invaded by aliens from Mars who systematically destroy Victorian England with advanced weaponry. Orson Welles’ famous rendition performed for the radio drama anthology series Mercury Theatre on the Air was so realistic that it caused a widespread panic and hysteria when listeners actually believed that an extraterrestrial invasion was occurring. The show skyrocketed Welles to instant notoriety, while also drawing attention to the original novel and garnering new sales and readers.

Dystopian novels saw another boom in popularity after World War II, when the possibility of nuclear warfare and global annihilation become a real one. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasako proved that countries had tools of mass destruction, prompting authors to explore this topic in many end of the world books.

While the last few years have definitely demonstrated a newfound interest in the genre, the last decade has also seen a notable surge. From Oprah’s book pick, The Road, which won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction to Jeanna DuPrau’s popular City of Ember series of books for young adults, the obsession with the end of civilization and existential catastrophes has grown significantly and shows no sign of slowing down.

Yet while sales continue to boom in this genre, and the numbers of readers multiply exponentially, the most well-read example of all time will surprise most—while you may guess it would be an installment from a popular science fiction and fantasy series, you couldn’t be further from the truth. Noah’s Ark was one of the first documented tales of a post apocalyptic scenario. Narratives of this vessel appear in the Book of Genesis and the Quran, and are studied in Christianity, Judaism and Islam, as well as other Abrahamic Judaism and non-Abrahamic faiths. The story is the perfect example of the genre, depicting a patriarch’s effort to save himself, his family and the world's animals from a worldwide deluge through the construction of a giant ark. It is possibly one of the first dystopian novels written—and definitely the first document.