Everything Must Go: The Stories We Tell About The End of the World

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'I was blown away by this book. The staggering range of references, the razor-sharp analysis, the wisdom, left me gasping out loud at times. Lynskey also somehow manages to make a book about the end of the world feel . . . hopeful. One of the best non-fiction writers around.' - Sathnam Sanghera, author of Empireland A riveting and brilliantly original exploration of our fantasies of the end of the world, from Mary Shelley's The Last Man to Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron, by the Baillie Gifford and Orwell prize-shortlisted writer and co-host of the podcast 'Origin Story'. For two millennia, Christians have looked forward to the end, haunted by the apocalyptic visions of the Biblical books of Daniel and Revelation. But for two centuries or more, these dark fantasies have given way to secular stories of how the world, our planet, or our species (or all of the above) might come to an end. Dorian Lynskey's fascinating book explores the endings that we have read, listened to or watched over the last two dozen decades, whether they be by the death and destruction of a nuclear holocaust or collision with a meteor or comet, devastating epidemic or takeover by robots or computers. The result is nothing less than a cultural history of the modern world, weaving together politics, history, science, high and popular culture in a book that is uniquely original, grippingly readable and deeply illuminating about both us and our times. 'Impossibly epic, brain-expanding, life-affirming and profound. You'll never see humanity the same way again.' - Ian Dunt, author of How Westminster Works . . . and Why It Doesn't

Reviews

Clever and voluminous . . . So engagingly plotted and written that its a pleasure to bask in its constant stream of remarkable titbits and illuminating insights. * The Guardian *
'Everything Must Go will make you happy to be alive and reading until the lights go out . . . Brilliant.' * The Spectator *
Lynskey has a journalists eye for a great story and a killer quotation . . . He is ridiculously well informed. * Literary Review *
Lynskey's encyclopedic knowledge . . . and his glee at the sheer inventiveness of the doomsayers' creations, make this an unlikely page-turner . . . a curiously entertaining read. -- Mat Osman, The Observer
A fascinating guide . . . full of lesser-known cultural gems. * New Scientist *
I was blown away by this book. The staggering range of references, the razor-sharp analysis, the wisdom, left me gasping out loud at times. Lynskey also somehow manages to make a book about the end of the world feel . . . hopeful. One of the best non-fiction writers around. -- Sathnam Sanghera, author of Empireland
So enjoyable, that I didn't want it to end the world, or the book. -- Adam Rutherford, author of A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived
A major piece of work, [a] heavyweight yet fleet-of-foot look at humankinds fixation on the end of days, told through the prism of history, religion, literature, popular art, science and more, as compelling as it is authoritative. -- Ian Winwood * The Telegraph *
Impossibly epic, brain-expanding, life-affirming and profound. Youll never see humanity the same way again. -- Ian Dunt, author of How Westminster Works . . . and Why It Doesn't
For a book drenched in destruction, Everything Must Go is not depressing, and often wryly funny. It is incredibly deeply researched, fluently written, moving deftly between close-up detail and broad-brush analysis. * The Arts Desk *

Author Bio

Dorian Lynskey writes about music, film, books and politics for publications including The Guardian, The Observer, the New Statesman, GQ, Billboard, Empire, and Mojo. His first book was 33 Revolutions Per Minute: A History of Protest Songs. A study of thirty-three pivotal songs with a political message, it was NME's Book of the Year and a 'Music Book of the Year' in The Daily Telegraph. His next book, The Ministry of Truth: A Biography of George Orwell's 1984, was longlisted for both the Baillie Gifford Prize and the Orwell Prize. He hosts the podcasts 'Origin Story' and 'Oh God, What Now'.