The 50th Anniversary Edition of the Lord of the Flies is the volume that every fan of this classic book will have to own! Lord of the Flies remains as provocative today as when it was first published in 1954, igniting passionate debate with its startling, brutal portrait of human nature. Though critically acclaimed, it was largely ignored upon its initial publication. Yet soon it became a cult favorite among both students and literary critics who compared it to J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye in its influence on modern thought and literature. Stripped of all pretense, Lord of the Flies is an adventure tale, a thrillingly and elegantly told account of a group of English schoolboys marooned on a tropical island who - far away from the mores of society and adult supervision - reveal the dark, base side of humanity as they descend into savagery. It presents a bleak, yet telling look at the nature of the beast known as man. In the words of Golding himself, "the theme is an attempt to trace the defect of society back to the defect of human nature." Labeled a parable, an allegory, a myth, a morality tale, a parody, a political treatise, even a vision of the apocalypse, Lord of the Flies has established itself as a true classic.This special fiftieth anniversary edition features the 1962 introduction by E.M. Forster, biographical and critical notes by E.I. Epstein and original drawings by Ben Gibson, specially commissioned for this work. (Publisher)