2017 Reprint of 1959 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition software. With a New Introduction by Lewis Gannett. Originally published in Czech in 1936 and in English in 1937, this is the author's prophetic and stirring novel about man's fatal propensity to stuff himself with sweets until he becomes ill. It is considered on enduring classic. One of the great anti-utopian satires of the twentieth century, an inspiration to writers from Orwell to Vonnegut. Man discovers a species of giant, intelligent newts or salamanders and learns to exploit them so successfully that the newts gain skills and arms enough to challenge man's place at the top of the animal kingdom. Along the way, Karel Capek satirizes science, runaway capitalism, fascism, journalism, militarism, even Hollywood.