# America — Last and First Men character guide

> America in Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** America

**First appearance:** 0009-i-europe-and-america

## Snapshot

The continent whose wealth and cultural reach make it the nucleus of a single Americanized world, and later the seedbed of humanity's successors.

## Who they are

America's dominance in Stapledon's early chapters is less a nation than a gravitational field, drawing the planet into one economic and cultural system. That unification produces the World State's peace and prosperity, but also its fragility — a mass civilization ripe for collapse into the First Dark Age. From its ruins the long cycles of human reinvention begin, making America the hinge between the First Men's brief zenith and their million-year aftermath.

## In the story

### [IV: The Russo-German War](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/last_and_first_men_se/chapters/iv-the-russo-german-war)

Financial conquest of Russia and subsequent punitive expedition turned to aid, but with profitable strings attached, increasing European resentment.

### [IV: The Culture of the Fifth Men](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/last_and_first_men_se/chapters/iv-the-culture-of-the-fifth-men)

Mentioned as a benchmark for material development, which the Fifth Men far surpass.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/last_and_first_men_se/characters/america
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/last_and_first_men_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/last_and_first_men_se/characters