Publisher's Synopsis
Lord of the World - A Timeless Classic - By Robert Hugh Benson - Complete Edition. Lord of the World is a 1907 novel by Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson. Despite focusing on the coming of the Anti-Christ, the Lord of the World is sometimes referred to as one of the first modern dystopias. The novel opens in the early 21st century. Marxism and Humanism, which are described as the instruments of Freemasonry, dominate both politics and culture. People have no history or hope so they often turn to euthanasia, which is legal. Further there is a global government that uses Esperanto for its language and ultimately becomes a servant of the anti-Christ. In brief: The Catholic Church has been suppressed by the rest of the world, which has turned to the religion of Humanity modelled on that of Auguste Comte. (A scene in which the Antichrist leads a massed congregation in the worship of a nude female statue in St. Paul's Cathedral is a more decorous version of the worship of the Goddess of Reason in Notre Dame de Paris in 1793.) Pope John XXIV has made an agreement with the Italian government: the Catholic Church can have all of Rome, while all other churches in Italy are surrendered to the government. The deposed royal houses of the world, including the Chinese imperial dynasty who have converted to Catholicism, are now resident in Rome. Rome and Ireland still remain staunchly Catholic, but otherwise only about one or two percent of the populations of most European countries remain so. Westminster Cathedral is the only church in London that is still Catholic, with the others having become Freemasonic temples. Protestantism is described as being virtually dead. The plot then follows the tale of a priest, Percy Franklin, who becomes Pope Silvester III near the end of the book, and an unknown man named Julian Felsenburgh (who is identical in looks to the priest) who becomes "Lord of the World". The fictional world described in this novel (written prior to the First World War) predicts certain innovations such as interstate highways (trunk, main junction) and air travel using "volors", an advanced form of Zeppelin or Ornithopter. It also assumes the continuation of the British Empire and predominant travel by train.
