Thea Gabriele von Harbou (1888–1954) was a German screenwriter, author, film director, and actress best remembered as the screenwriter of the 1927 sci-fi classic Metropolis and the 1925 novel on which it was based . . . A dystopian and haunting vision of the future eerily resonant with our present—where humanity teeters between progress and collapse—where a privileged elite live above ground in luxurious gilded towers while oppressed workers slave below ground maintaining their monstrous machines. As tensions rise and revolution brews, Freder, the idealistic and privileged son of the city’s ruler, falls in love with Maria, a poor, compassionate woman from the underground who preaches peace and unity among the laborers. While searching for meaning in the fractured society, Freder defies his father’s authority and seeks to bridge the gap between the classes and unite the disparate social orders. Pulsing with mythic symbolism, philosophical depth, and poetic urgency, each page-turn of Metropolis feels like plunging deeper into a prophecy. " Metropolis is unlike any other novel yet written. The impression it leaves is of a work of genius, distinctly unique and original." - The Readers' Library "Behind the weird story of the great Armageddon between mankind and monsters . . . is the romance of a young woman who conceived the nightmare plot in a dream and was impelled by some strange force over which she had no control to set it down on paper. She is Thea von Harbou . . . " - The China Mail " Metropolis somewhat resembles a mixture of H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, and Edward Bellamy, with perhaps a touch of Mrs. Shelley's Frankenstein ." - The Evening Star "It is a remarkable piece of work, skilfully reproducing the atmosphere one has come to associate with the most ambitious German film productions. Suggestive in many respects of the dramatic work of Karel Capek and of the earlier fantastic romances of H.G. Wells, in treatment it is an interesting example of expressionist literature . . . Metropolis is one of the most powerful novels I have read." -Michael Joseph, The Bookman "Thea von Harbou excelled in the one aspect of literary craftsmanship that critics tend to ignore because it is utterly beyond their ability to comprehend: the power of myth-making." -Gary Westfahl "Thea von Harbou, its gifted authoress, in her lifetime exhibited a literary mind that leapt ahead of reality . . . the language of the novel is sometimes as thesauric as Shiel, as kaleidoscopic as Merritt, as bone-spare as Bradbury, as poetic as Poe, as macabre as Machen . . . you will have an experience in reading that will last you all the rest of your life." -Forrest J. Ackerman "In Metropolis we shall see the author's prophecy of what Capital and Labor may come to unless they cooperate in mutual sympathy. The story is by Thea von Harbou, the Jules Verne of Germany, and probably the greatest living woman novelist." - The Nottingham Evening Post