Herbert George Wells was something of a Renaissance man in the sense that he demonstrated facility in a number of different areas, exploring through his writings such topics as history, science, sociology, and philosophy. He has become best known for his science fiction works, but these as well reflect his interest in other subjects, notably various sociological concerns of the era as to what progress would mean into the next century and how human beings would fare in the developing scientific world. Wells was particularly concerned over themes that related to the evolution of society and to the ways in which society served the interests of the masses, or failed to serve those interests. An examination of his writing shows that Wells believed in progress and sought to understand and shape the future development of society in a progressive direction.
Wells crosses from the nineteenth to the twentieth centuries and commented on the changes taking place. His reputation is peculiar in many respects. He wrote on a wide variety of subjects, and he did so with a scholarly erudition that showed he had read and studied widely. He is viewed more as a popularizer of different subjects than as a serious scholar, however, and is also not considered among the first rank in any particular field:
. . . most academic specialists will not have him. for students of English literature he has shrunk to the dimensions of a minor novelist, fit for sweeping into the literary dustbin nowadays shared by Hilaire Belloc, Arnold Bennett, and John Galsworthy. In all the fields he invaded for his adventures in journalism and vulgarization, from history and biology to economics and education, he is either completely ignored or tolerated with contempt.
This is more than an assessment after the fact by critics and scholars looking back to an earlier time, for it was always the assessment made of Wells and his work:
All through his career, Wells'...