Childhood's End

This article is about a novel. For other uses, see Childhood's End (disambiguation).

Childhood's End
Cover of first edition hardcover
AuthorArthur C. Clarke
Cover artistRichard M. Powers
LanguageEnglish
GenreScience fiction
PublisherBallantine Books
Publication date
1953
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (hardcover and paperback)
Pages214
ISBN0-345-34795-1
OCLC36566890

Childhood's End is a 1953 science fiction novel by the British author Arthur C. Clarke. The story follows the peaceful alien invasion[1] of Earth by the mysterious Overlords, whose arrival begins decades of apparent utopia under indirect alien rule, at the cost of human identity and culture.

Clarke's idea for the book began with his short story "Guardian Angel" (published in New Worlds #8, winter 1950), which he expanded into a novel in 1952, incorporating it as the first part of the book, "Earth and the Overlords". Completed and published in 1953, Childhood's End sold out its first printing, received good reviews and became Clarke's first successful novel. The book is often regarded by both readers and critics as Clarke's best novel[2] and is described as "a classic of alien literature".[3] Along with The Songs of Distant Earth (1986), Clarke considered Childhood's End to be one of his favourites of his own novels.[4] The novel was nominated for the Retro Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2004.

Several attempts to adapt the novel into a film or miniseries have been made with varying levels of success. Director Stanley Kubrick expressed interest in the 1960s, but collaborated with Clarke on 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) instead. The novel's theme of transcendent evolution also appears in Clarke's Space Odyssey series. In 1997, the BBC produced a two-hour radio dramatization of Childhood's End that was adapted by Tony Mulholland. The Syfy Channel produced a three-part, four-hour television miniseries of Childhood's End, which was broadcast on 14–16 December 2015.

  1. ^ Booker & Thomas 2009, pp. 31–32.
  2. ^ McAleer 1992, p. 88.
  3. ^ Dick 2001, pp. 127–129.
  4. ^ Cordeiro 2008, pp. 47–50.