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A riveting and brilliantly original exploration of our fantasies of the end of the world, from Mary Shelley’s The Last Man to HBO’s The Last of Us via Stanley Kubrick, Margaret Atwood and Mad Max, by the Baillie Gifford and Orwell prize-longlisted author of The Ministry of Truth and co-host of the podcast ‘Origin Story’.

For two millennia, many Christians have believed that the end of the world was nigh, haunted by the apocalyptic visions of the Book of Revelation. But only during the last two centuries have religious prophecies coexisted with secular speculations about how our civilisation, our species, our planet, or all of the above, might come to an end.

Dorian Lynskeyʼs fascinating new book explores stories of the end in literature and film, whether they feature an annihilating nuclear holocaust, collision with an asteroid, a devastating pandemic, a revolt of the machines or a collapsing climate. Such fantasies of doom have been informed by political and scientific developments, and have shaped the narratives of politics, science and journalism in turn.

As the world emerges from a devastating epidemic and our newspapers are full of wildfires, floods and hurricanes, as we focus on the implications of AI and the resurgent threat of nuclear war, these stories — and what they say about us — seem more relevant than ever. And yet every generation has had its own fears. We may expect the end, but so did our forebears. What is it in human nature that makes us imagine, and even crave, the ultimate conclusion to our story?

The result is nothing less than a cultural history of the modern world, weaving together politics, history, science, high and popular culture, in a book that is uniquely original, grippingly readable and deeply illuminating about both ourselves and our times.

Dorian Lynskey writes about music, film, books and politics for publications including The Guardian, The Observer, the New Statesman, GQ, Billboard, Empire, and Mojo. His first book was 33 Revolutions Per Minute: A History of Protest Songs. A study of thirty-three pivotal songs with a political message, it was NME's Book of the Year and a 'Music Book of the Year' in The Daily Telegraph. His second book, The Ministry of Truth: A Biography of George Orwell's 1984, was longlisted for both the Baillie Gifford Prize and the Orwell Prize. He hosts the podcasts 'Origin Story' and 'Oh God, What Now?'.