Earth Abides
Season 14, Episode 01
January 19, 2026
Human civilization ends.
Earth quietly continues.
Re-Imagined Radio launches Season 14 with "Earth Abides," a story that examines Earth's resilience after a pandemic virus destroys most of the human population leaving the natural world to quietly continue.
Adapted from the landmark 1949 post-apocalyptic science fiction novel by American author George R. Stewart.
While human civilization fades away, Earth Abides.
From our Adventure and Science Fiction series.
Access the episode script
Background
Wendell Meredith Stanley is often cited for his articles appearing in Chemical & Engineering News regarding viruses and pandemic prepardedness. For example, American author George R. Stewart cited Stanley at the beginning of his 1949 novel, Earth Abides.
"If a killing type of virus strain should suddenly arise by mutation, it could, because of the rapid
transportation in which we indulge nowadays, be carried to the far corners of the earth and cause the
death of millions of people."
— W. M. Stanley. Chemical and Engineering News, Vol. 25, No. 51, December 22, 1947,
pp. 3786–3791.
Stewart's novel attracted immediate attention when first published in 1949 for its examination of nature's resilience after a sudden and deadly pandemic virus destroys most of Earth's human population.
Set in the 1940s, the story is narrated by Isherwood Williams, a "student of ecology," who survives the virus while living in the mountains of Northern California. Williams drives across country to New York City. Finding only a handful of survivors along the way, he returns to his family home in Berkeley, California, and spends the rest of his life there trying to restart human civilization, albeit based on simpler tools and life style.
The theme is familiar for Stewart, whose earlier novels also examined the effects of decreasing numbers. In this case it's humans. Stewart, through his character, Williams, describes human civilization as slowly overgrown and destroyed. Non-human populations adjust after generations of living under the requirements of humans. Some are able to adapt and survive. Others cannot.
Surviving humans must also adapt. At first they survive by plundering resources left after the demise of their civilization. Groups form tribes for support and resources. When electrical and water utilities fail, humans revert to the hunter-gatherer life style of their forebearers.
The novel's central theme is the impermanence of human effort and achievement. Civilizations rise and fall, but Earth Abides.
Adapted for radio by David Ellis, and broadcast in two episodes of the Escape radio adventure series, November 1950. With minimal editing the two parts are combined for this episode of Re-Imagined Radio.
Production
Contents
The 1950 radio adaptation by David Ellis of George R. Stewart's 1949 novel Earth Abides. Adapted in two episodes for Escape, the radio adventure series. The first episode, Part 1, Episode #131, was broadcast November 5, 1950. Part 2, Episode #132, November 12, 1950. The radio adaptation follows the original novel almost exactly. It is presented here with only a few edits to fit within the timeframe of this episode.
Cast
John Dehner as Isherwood Williams
Peggy Weber as Emma
with Lawrence Dobkin, Paul Frees, Harry Bartell, Michael Ann Barrett, Jeanette Nolan, John Hoyt, Parley
Bear, Ron Brogan, Lou Krugman, Jeffry Silver (Part 2 only)
Credits
Adapted by David Ellis
Produced and Directed by Norman MacDonnell
Music arrangement and conducting by Ivan Ditmars
Significance
Earth Abides won the first ever International Fantasy Award in 1951. It was included in Locus magazine's list of best All Time Science Fiction in 1987 and 1998. It was a nominee for the Prometheus Hall of Fame before 2002. The novel was adapted for radio by David Ellis, and heard as two episodes of the adventure radio series Escape in November 1950. We combine these two parts for this episode of Re-Imagined Radio. From our Adventure and Science Fiction series.
Producer's Notes
A sudden, and deadly pandemic virus collapses human civilization. Something unthinkable. Science Fiction. Yes, until the COVID pandemic. First detected in Washington State in January 2020, COVID, by May 2023, was a global pandemic sickening and killing thousands. Sometimes science fiction really can give us a look at the future.
We present this story to launch our Season 14 because it is appropriate. Changes to the country's medical oversight, together with misguided and ignored scientific and medical data, especially with regard to vaccines, have prompted returns and outbreaks of dangerous viruses previously under control. Unnecessary deaths are predicted. The potential for global pandemics mounts.
With this episode, Re-Imagined Radio seeks to prompt serious thought about a very real and present
danger.
— John F. Barber
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