Ranked among the classic novels of the English language and the inspiration for several unforgettable movies, this early work of H. G. Wells was greeted in 1896 by howls of protest from reviewers, who found it horrifying and blasphemous. They wanted to know more about the wondrous possibilities of science shown in his first book, The Time Machine, not its potential for misuse and terror, in The Island of Dr. Moreau,a shipwrecked gentleman named Edward Prendick,stranded on a Pacific island Iorded over by the notorious Dr. Moreau, confronts dark secrets, strange creatures, and a reason to run for his life……

I FIRST READ The Island of Dr. Moreau at college, in the late 1960s. In those turbulent years, the real education for young people took place outside the classroom. Textbooks were ancient census reports compared to the daily bulletins from Vietnam, the nervous campus appearances by the Secretary of State, the peace marches in Washington, China’s explosion of a hydrogen bomb, the pervasive aroma of marijuana in the air. One day in the dining hall, a bearded assistant professor sitring next to me pushed aside his mashed potatoes,reached into his pocket, and ignited his draft card. Then he invited the rest of the young men at the table to follow suit. We were awed and terrified and elated with the challenge, and we spent the rest of the day pacing under an oak tree, discussing politics and civic obligation and individual freedom. We were powerful, and we believed in our power……

Introduction by Alan Lightman

THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU

1 In the Dingey of the "Lady Vain"

2 The Man Who Was Going Nowhere

3 The Strange Face

4 At the Schooner’s Rail

5 The Landing on the Island

6 The Evil-looking Boatmen

7 The Locked Door

8 The Grving of the Puma

9 The Thing in the Forest

10 The Grving of the Man

11 The Hunting of the Man

12 The Sayers of the Law

13 A Parley

14 Doctor Moreau Explains

15 Concerning the Beast Folk

16 How the Beast Folk Tasted Blood

17 A Catastrophe

18 The Finding of Moreau

19 Montgomery’s "Bank Holiday"

20 Alone with the Beast Folk

21 The Reversion of the Beast Folk

22 The Man Alone