The Last Man (Annotated)

The Last Man is an apocalyptic, dystopian science fiction novel by Mary Shelley, which was first published in 1826. The book describes a future Earth at the time of the late 21st century, ravaged by a new pandemic of a mysterious disease which quickly sweeps across the world, ultimately resulting in the near-extinction of all humanity. It also includes a discussion of English culture as a republic, with Mary Shelley sitting in meetings of the House of Commons to gain an insight into the governmental political system of the Romantic era. Within the novel she dedicates it highly to her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley, who drowned in a shipwreck four years before the book's publication. It is also dedicated to her close friend Lord Byron, who had died two years previously.