Mr Britling Sees It Through

Wells had a keen interest in the political and social issues of his day, one of the most significant of which was the outbreak of the First World War. This book, written in 1916, presents the story of Mr Britling, a political commentator, living in comfortable security in his country estate at Matchings Easy, in Essex. He entertains a varied assembly of guests, including Mr Direck, an American journalist, and Herr Heinrich, a German philology student who acts as a family tutor, and the general atmosphere is a hectic social whirl, involving wild games of hockey, extravagant dinners, and florid conversation. This avoidant conviviality is shattered by the military adventurism of Germany and Austria, and the resultant involvement of other countries on the European continent in a world war. Even though Mr Britling remains in England, the war has major ramifications on his family and friends, and his view of the world. In the middle of the book, Wells presents his own succinct summary of the