Prior to this work, one could consider all of Stapledon's prior works to be the same vision of the future. "Darkness and the Light" doesn't fit as easily with his other works, largely because Stapledon's predictions in "Last and First Men" were already far off the mark. However, predictions are not the main purpose of Stapledon's works, and if one sets aside that aspect, this could be viewed as a more detailed look at the First Men. That being said, the decision on whether or not to fit this book in with his previous works is one which is left to the reader, as this book can easily stand on its own as far as its content is concerned. Written in the darkest days of World War II, this book focuses on the concept of the Darkness and the Light, and a decision point in the future of which path the human race will take resulting from a Tibetan Renaissance which will take place. If it is successful, humanity moves towards the Light, but if it fails then humanity heads towards Darkness.

The book is divided into three sections. The first is titled "Crisis" and deals with the history (or future as it actually is) leading up to the Tibetan crossroads. This section covers the rise and fall of several world powers, culminating in one power led by Russia, and the other led by China. Between the two comes the rise of tiny Tibet with its Renaissance and its movement towards the Light, its presence causes a massive impact on both of the large empires which now must deal with this new threat to their corrupt way of life.

Section two is titled "Darkness" and it deals with the future history which occurs if the Tibet Renaissance fails. Stapledon details the creation of a world empire, followed by the total collapse of civilization through its various phases. He continues on to the end of Man which results from the world taking this particular path. This is a bleak future, one without hope and it results in the extinction of man and ultimately the destruction of Earth. This future is much shorter for Man than the future which results from the other path. There is a brief period in which a single world government is created, but it is only able to last a relatively short period before the collapse.

The third and final section is "The Light". In this section Stapledon details the future history if the Tibet Renaissance succeeds. Unlike the "Darkness" future which holds out little positive, the success of the Tibet Renaissance does not result in a future which is completely "Light". The survival of Tibet still leaves the two other empires in place, and there ensues a long struggle before the world unites, and even then there is a period where regional demands force difficult compromises upon the rest of the world. There are additional challenges even when the world appears to unite, as discoveries about the nature of the universe reveal.

There is no section to sum up these two futures; they are merely presented as two paths which humanity might take, and only humanity can decide which one it will take. Taken literally that decision is also a long way in the future, but one can and should think about this work and the period in which it was written. There are clear parallels to the situation faced by Stapledon's England at the time this was written. This aspect of the book is significant, and I think it is often lost on readers today. Even when factoring that aspect in, this book falls short of Stapledon's "Last Men in London" and "Star Maker" which have a similar style of narrative, but it does make the reading of this work more interesting and less like a reworking of the first part of "Last and First Men".

精神投影を用いた「未来からの回想」と云う形で、現代(1930-40年代)から始まる人類の壮大な未来史を描き上げると云うスタイルは、ステープルドンの処女作『最後の、そして最初の人類』に於て既に用いられていたものだ。が、今回は同じ手法を用い乍らも、「闇」「と「光」、異なるふたつの未来の姿を描き出している。大まかな構成は以下の通りだが、人類が一文明単位で飽きもせず破壊と生成を繰り返してゆく様は正に圧巻。超個人的な視野に立ったその筆致は、幾人かの歴史家を除けば、今だに余人の追随を許さない。

　第1部、ドイツ、北アメリカ、ロシア、中国、チベット等、幾つもの帝国が版図を広げ、栄華を誇っては衰退する。

　第2部は闇の歴史。チベットが歩みを間違えて以降、人類はかつてない戦争、世界帝国の誕生、経済の衰退や人口の減少等を経て滅亡への道を辿り、その後太陽が新星化する。

　第3部は光の歴史。戦争の後に新世界秩序が誕生、何度も危機を迎え乍らもその都度進歩と成長を繰り返し、絶望と希望を抱えつつも、何処とも知れぬ未来へと向かって、新たなる段階へ進んでゆく。

尚この版にはサム・モスコウィッツが序文を書いており、ステープルドンのSF作家としての歩みが解説されている。

this book was written during the carnage of the 2nd world war and as a book of predictions as one reviewer has already remarked it is far off the track so we must regard it as a book of artistry as it presents the reader as trying to put himself in stapledon's shoes and he is trying to weave a political philosophy into the world of 1942. First he presents the world of darkness as existing between the Russian and Chinese empires who fight for world control and the Chinese he portrays as beuing the more successful and the Russian as being prone more to failure but they are both empires of darkness and he presents Tibet as the fulcrum point at which these two empires fight. Tibet is not able to withstand the Chinese empire in the world of darkness and humjanity soon collapses.

Tibet is the point at which the world of light first appears and the world of light according to stapledon is the world state the reorganization of mankind into one federated and united world where all are able to achieve their upmost. The one power he finds reluctant to embrace the light is the u.s. and stapledon was never a fan of American capitalism or with American historical figures and here he shows the u.s. as reluctant to embrace the light but eventually the world state overcomes American reluctance and the world is united into one federated enclave. The world as stapledon envisages it eventually tries to aspire towards spiritual greatness but is besieged at the end by some kind of virus and is overcome but some remnant remain to repopulate the world here of all places from Tibet stapledon's focal point and eventually a being from the Tibetans develops from man and man is able to reproduce himself into a greater being and the species survive. The world is hence poised at the end of world war two stapledon surmises between the worlds of darkness and light and which alternative will it choose. Here stapledon is not enthused with space travel or man replanting himself among the stars but humans are meant to find their place among the earth and their spiritual destiny. I found it an encouraging work and well worth my time reading.

Mankind can choose growth and overcome the challenges of stagnation and evil or we can submit ourselves to our baser natures and fall apart. This is very much still true today and perhaps more urgent than ever with emerging and powerful technologies.

The book predicts certain tech such as cryogenics, cybernetic enhancement which is incredible for 1942 when the book was published, massive city scale tanks, artificial wombs, and so on. It’s entertaining but told in a documentarian way so don’t expect specific characters and the like. The story itself however is an important one and I’m better for having read it. I feel more focused on my mission and what I should be seeking in my day to day as I interact with other people.

We can choose paradise but first we have to create it. This book explores what that potential paradise can look like, but also the most painful of dystopias. Only we can choose and we make this choice daily.

This is an interesting, though extremely dated, and highly conceptual, future history.

Between the content and the e-book production (you can't even get the line breaks right; and there are no chapters) it may or may not be worth $.99.

Do not read this if you want a conventional plot and heroes, or even individual characters, to relate to.

Note: This is not true of all of Stapleton; many of his are well worth reading, especially _Sirius_ in my opinion.

The anti - African racism was offensive -- although the Chinese were among the military and cultural leaders of humanity both before and after war was eliminated, and the Tibetans led the world into spiritual enlightenment and economic justice.

As for the sexism . . . whew! Women, as women, did not exist except as mothers, although with labor-saving devices, etc. at least some women were apparently presumed to take a role in the crafts, professions, arts, and spiritual disciplines of various the historical eras.

This book is superb, as are all Stapledon's books. But the Kindle conversion process has been very poor. It has not been typed out as a text document; it is some kind of scan. You need to make the font very small in order to see the pages. The customer experience is poor. But still, it is immeasurably better than nothing, and I have not asked for my money back.