The Abolition of Man

C.S. Lewis sets out to persuade his audience of the importance and relevance of universal values such as courage and honor in contemporary society. Both astonishing and prophetic, this is one of the most debated of Lewis’s extraordinary books.

In this graceful work, C.S. Lewis reflects on society and nature and the challenges of how best to educate our children. He argues that, as a society, we need to underpin reading and writing with lessons in morality — in the process both educating the next generation while re—educating ourselves.

Clive Staples Lewis (1898—1963) was born in Belfast. He was a fellow and tutor in English Literature at Magdalen College, Oxford, and was later Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University, where he remained until his death. His major contributions in literary criticism, children’s literature, fantasy literature, and popular theology brought him international renown and acclaim. Lewis’s most distinguished and popular accomplishments include The Chronicles of Narnia, Out of the Silent Planet, The Four Loves, The Screwtape Letters, and Mere Christianity.

“If someone were to come to me and say that, with the exception of the Bible, everyone on earth was going to be required to read one and the same book, and then ask what it should be, I would with no hesitation say The Abolition of Man. It is the most perfectly reasoned defense of Natural Law (Morality) I have ever seen, or believe to exist. If any book is able to save us from future excesses of folly and evil, it is this book”

— Walter Hooper