Earth Abides by George R. Stewart (book review)
‘Earth Abides’ by George R. Stewart (1895-1980) is only one of two SF book that he wrote. It was originally released in 1949 and been in print many times since, including this Gollancz edition which should speak for its popularity.
Isherwood ‘Ish’ Williams survives being bitten by a rattlesnake while out in the woods, he recovers to find he missed America being hit by a plague. I can say that in a line but really he finds out slowly and has to come to terms with it and decides to travel to see how many people actually survived, picking up a beagle dog he calls Princess along the way. Stewart’s depiction of the bleakness still strikes home some nearly 80 years later. There are some gaps, like where did the panicking population go as Ish never finds them in his travels, just the token dead body and odd living people, but never questions how they survived.
Considering the detail in the opening section of the book, Stewart moves rather quickly over the years when Ish meets Emma aka ‘Em’, and grows a community around them, shortening the details. One thing he does continually avoid is why a small number of people survive the plague as there is nothing noted as what makes them special or a grouping together wouldn’t introduce it. Instead, they are an average group who all have children and bring up the next generations.
The year 23 becomes significant as Ish reviews the Tribe’s life and gets two of his sons to prep a car so they can investigate parts of America for themselves. Instead of following them, we wait until they return to find out what they found out. They did find a couple other colonies, including one that had turned to God. They did bring back the charismatic Charlie whom they didn’t see through like Ish and Ezra did and later discover him to be a typhoid carrier. His fate is spoiler although Stewart avoids showing the details, no doubt careful of the moralities of the 1940s and how far he could actually go. It isn’t like their choice isn’t justified.
The final section follows Ish’s own aging and his generation dying off and he’s the only one left. His grandchildren, now adults, look after him. There is often a reminder that the Tribe he leaves are average people. No geniuses amongst them, just people who have adapted to their way of life. Whether that would change in the future, we are unlikely to find out. Stewart is more concerned to show mankind will survive regardless so leaving some hope at the end to balance out the chaos.
You do have to be aware that Stewart uses ‘negroes’ instead of ‘blacks’ but not in a detrimental way. When Williams meets a small colony, he finds them surviving better than other people he met.
Something which is always odd about these ‘end-of-the-world’ stories is just where do people flee to? Surely there must be bottlenecks where they all end up. With a plague, getting so many people, having them all bunched up will make it worse not better. Then again, its panic when calmness and orderly thinking is needed. Thankfully, there were only rare instances of extreme reaction when covid came along in our reality.
Is this book worth reading? I tried looking up any books earlier than ‘Earth Abides’. It doesn’t actually come up under ‘end of the world’ stories or even under pandemic stories. It is regarded as giving a realistic look at the results in such a situation. In some respects, we are left in the dark as to how the rest of the world survived? Under such circumstances, we probably wouldn’t, although the electricity and such ran on automatic for a time while Ish explored. In some respects, we have to think of today. There are a lot of specialised jobs these days that would fall apart if the workers died. Look at computers. We might be able to build a computer from the parts, but the number of people who could make CPUs must surely be limited. If nothing else, ‘Earth Abides’ might make you think about adding more skills to your talent set.
GF Willmetts
July 2026
(pub: Gollancz, SF Masterworks, 312 page small enlarged paperback. Price: varies. ISBN: 978-1-85799-821-5)
check out website: www.gollancz.co.uk
