Last and First Men
The Last Men are the final human species, whose distant future perspective frames the entire narrative.
I: Balkan Europe
The observers of the First Men's history, providing a distant perspective on the events.
The European War and After
The distant observers who narrate the history of the First Men.
III: Material Achievement
The Last Men, including the narrator, look back on the First Men's era with a sense of pathos and comicality, noting the confusion of material development with civilization.
VII: The Rise of the Second Men
The central focus of the chapter, describing their physical form, temperament, and cultural development.
I: The Appearance of a New Species
The new human species, described in detail with their physical and mental traits.
II: The Intercourse of Three Species
The advanced human species exploring Africa, seeking metals, and later devastated by plagues.
III: The Zenith of the Second Men
The focus of the chapter, describing their intellectual achievements, social institutions, and physiological evolution.
VIII: The Martians
The Second Men are mentioned as having a more developed sense of self-consciousness and self-criticism compared to the Martians, highlighting a key difference in their psychologies.
Life on Mars
Mentioned as the observers of the Martian cloudlets in their sky, indicating their role in the narrative.
III: The Martian Mind
The Second Men are mentioned as having developed mental coherence and self-criticism further than the First Men, but still lacking the Martian's collective harmony.
Earth and Mars
The Second Men are the central focus, experiencing a spiritual crisis and eventual self-destruction.
I: The Second Men at Bay
The advanced human species facing repeated Martian invasions, demonstrating loyalty and heroism but suffering from the physiological and psychological aftermath.
II: The Ruin of Two Worlds
The species suffers a spiritual crisis, leading to social decay and eventual self-destruction.
III: The Third Dark Age
The surviving remnants of the Second Men, who fall into a trance-like state of racial sleep, unable to rebuild civilization.
X: The Third Men in the Wilderness
Predecessors of the Third Men, who remained in a racial trance for thirty million years before the Third Men emerged.
I: The Third Human Species
The predecessor species from which the Third Men evolved.
III: The Vital Art
Mentioned as having a high-water mark in applied biological sciences, which the Third Men surpassed.
IV: Conflicting Policies
Noted for their detachment, yet sometimes persuaded by admiration for human personality to believe in immortal souls.
III: The Fifth Men
Referenced as a previous species with titanic stature and innate higher aptitudes, serving as a model for the Fifth Men.
The Last Terrestrials
Referenced as having similar philosophical realizations about the brevity of mind's course.
I: The Cult of Evanescence
Mentioned as having previously grappled with similar existential questions.
Exploration of Time
Their era is the setting for a vision of a house destroyed by a monster, and their architecture is noted as atypical.
I: Bird’s-Eye View
The Last Men are the Eighteenth Men, living on Neptune, and the narrator belongs to this species.
III: Slow Conquest
The Eighteenth and final human species, whose world fulfills all earlier cultures, as described in the chapter's conclusion.
XV: The Last Men
The subject of the chapter, described in detail with their physical and spiritual characteristics.
Introduction to the Last Human Species
The species described in detail, with their physical variations, sub-sexes, and spiritual culture.
II: Childhood and Maturity
The narrator describes the customs and life cycle of the Last Men, including their extended childhood and adolescence, and their near-immortal adult state.
III: A Racial Awakening
The narrator's species, characterized by a group-mind and a racial purpose.
III: A Racial Awakening
Mentioned as having sought the experience of 'cold beauty' deliberately.
IV: Cosmology
The narrators of this chapter, who contemplate the cosmos and their own impending extinction with equanimity and admiration for fate.
XVI: The Last of Man
The Last Men face their doom with philosophical resignation and a commitment to the dissemination of the seed.
I: Sentence of Death
The narrators and protagonists, facing the imminent end of their species.
II: Behaviour of the Condemned
Facing their doom, they experience a racial trance and resolve to spread life seeds and influence the past.
III: Epilogue
The narrators and central figures of the epilogue, now in decline due to the sun's disintegration.
