which he attempts to deduce how key developments in prehistorical civilization must have unfolded, and also offers a wealth of original and interesting insights into the character of early civilization. Good Lives provides a series of biographical sketches with the end in view of determining what it is that makes for a good life, an undertaking having much in common with, say, Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. Not So Rich as You Think (1968) was a prescient early essay in environmentalism (Rachel Carson's Silent Spring had been published only a few years earlier, in 1962, and had a much narrower focus). Storm (1941) takes an immense storm as its protagonist, an extraordinary departure in itself, and again teases out the consequences for human beings of this large-scale environmental disruption. Other works, such as Names on the Land and American Ways of Life offer other unique insights and perspectives not found anywhere else. Years of the City is somewhat marred by relatively poor characterization, but is among his most ambitious books thematically, as it is concerned with the factors that lead to the rise and decline of civilizations – a topic only someone as well-versed in history as Stewart could successfully explore. A number of trends in contemporary America can be recognized as being among those leading to decline. Indeed, in a sense, The Years of the City is even more prescient and insightful than, say, Orwell's 1984. Taken together, this enlightening body of work provides a breadth and depth of perspective found elsewhere only in authors like Toynbee, the Durants, and Carroll Quigley, but in a far more palatable and accessible form. Achievements of this stature might have earned Stewart a lasting reputation as one of America's greatest writers and men of letters. However, the significance of his output was largely overlooked during his lifetime, and is now almost forgotten. Earth Abides was re-issued in 2020 with an introduction by Kim Stanley Robinson. He is today known primarily for his only science fiction novel Earth Abides (1949), a post-apocalyptic novel, for which he won the inaugural International Fantasy Award for fiction in 1951. It was dramatized on radio's Escape and served as an inspiration for Stephen King's The Stand, as King has stated. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction calls it "one of the finest of all Post-Holocaust/Ruined Earth novels". His 1941 novel Storm, featuring as its protagonist a Pacific storm called "Maria,"