Austin Bierbower

author

Austin Bierbower

1844–1913

Best known for an unusual early science-fiction tale about human origins, this American writer also tackled ethics, religion, and philosophy in a long list of nonfiction works. His books show a restless curiosity about how people think, behave, and build society.

1 Audiobook

From Monkey to Man, or, Society in the Tertiary Age A Story of the Missing Link, Showing the First Steps in Industry, Commerce, Government, Religion and the Arts; With an Account of the Great Expedition From Cocoanut Hill and the Wars in Alligator Swamp

From Monkey to Man, or, Society in the Tertiary Age A Story of the Missing Link, Showing the First Steps in Industry, Commerce, Government, Religion and the Arts; With an Account of the Great Expedition From Cocoanut Hill and the Wars in Alligator Swamp

by Austin Bierbower

About the author

Born around 1844 and dying in 1913, Austin Bierbower was an American author and academic whose work ranged widely across philosophy, religion, ethics, and speculative fiction. He wrote on topics such as Christian socialism, morals, and education, showing a strong interest in big social and intellectual questions.

He is now most often remembered for From Monkey to Man; or, Society in the Tertiary Age (1894), a striking early science-fiction novel that imagines human development in prehistoric times. Reference sources describe it as an anthropological or prehistoric SF tale, and it stands out for blending evolutionary ideas with satire and social thought.

Bierbower also published many nonfiction books, including works on ethics and philosophy, which suggests he saw writing as a way to explore how belief, reason, and society fit together. Even when his ideas feel very much of their era, his range makes him an interesting figure for listeners curious about the borderland between speculative fiction and nineteenth-century moral philosophy.