This Norton Critical Edition includes:
- The 1896 William Heinemann edition of Wells's novel-a cauldron of scientific ambition, interspecies conflict, and neocolonial violence-with a glossary of nautical, botanical, and geological terms.
- A preface with a note on the text, contextualizing headnotes, and explanatory footnotes by Kimberly W. Benston.
- Eight illustrations, including the 1896 frontispiece and artworks relating to the novel's context.
- An especially rich selection of contextual materials, topically organized: "Evolution: Theory, Society, Language, and Ethics"; "Race, Cannibalism, and Empire"; "Animality, Science, and the Vivisection Debate"; and "Wells on Evolution, Pain, Extinction, and Animal Mind."
- Fourteen critical interpretations, from reviews upon publication to current critical scholarship.
- A chronology of Wells's life and a selected bibliography.
