In this prescient dystopian novella, E.M. Forster imagines a future where humanity lives underground, entirely dependent on a vast, all-encompassing Machine that controls every aspect of life. As people become more isolated and detached from the natural world, one man begins to question the system, leading to a chilling exploration of the consequences of over-reliance on technology. The Machine Stops is a powerful critique of technological dependence and a visionary tale of societal collapse.

E. M. Forster (1879-1970) was an English novelist, short story writer, essayist, and librettist. He is known best for his ironic and well-plotted novels examining class difference and hypocrisy in early 20th-century British society. Forster's humanistic impulse toward understanding and sympathy may be aptly summed up in the epigraph to his 1910 novel, Howards End: ʺOnly connect...ʺ. His 1908 novel, A Room with a View, is his most optimistic work, while A Passage to India (1924) brought him his greatest success.