Christopher Samuel Youd

The White Mountains was probably the first post-apocalyptic science fiction book I ever read, and I thought it would be interesting to finally see what John Christopher (or Samuel Youd, as it turns out his name actually was) wrote for adults. No Blade of Grass is an extremely bleak and pessimistic--though powerful and well-written--tale of the failure of civilization at every level (from governments to individuals) in the face of ecological disaster. I think it's interesting that in 1956 Christopher was writing about, essentially, the unintended consequences of genetic modification, and also that not just hubris but (there's probably a better term for this but it escapes me right now) international racism plays a significant role in bringing on disaster--i.e., complacent Western governments assume that they'll handle the crisis better than "the Asiatics."

I guess by the time he wrote The White Mountains Christopher had either become less pessimistic about human responses in the face of disaster or decided to temper it for the kiddies. I'm extremely glad that I happen to have Rebecca Solnit's A Paradise Built in Hell on hand to read as a corrective to the grimness.… (más)