Peter Conrad has taught English at Christ Church, Oxford, since 1973. One of the great cultural critics of our time, he is the author of more than a dozen books, including Modern Times, Modern Places (T&H, 1999).

Introduction; 1. Meetings with the Maker; 2. In the Beginnings; 3. Out of the Chasm; 4. Cubing the Egg; 5. In Verbo; 6. The Supreme Artisan; 7. Another God; 8. The Great Work; 9. Our Own Unmaking; 10. Author of Himself; 11. To Create More Worlds; 12. Uncreating Words; 13. Nature Caught in the Act; 14. Jehovah, Jupiter, Fu and Brahma; 15. Sky Stories; 16. Protoplasts; 17. The God of Steam; 18. Go Forth and Multiply; 19. Pangenesis; 20. New Eve, Old Adam; 21. Begetter and Bearer; 22. Deicide; 23. Out of the Canyon; 24. The First Artists; 25. Prime Movers; 26. Creatures of Prometheus; 27. God's Finger, Man's Hand; 28. Let There Be Sound; 29. Sons of Chaos; 30. Psychogenesis; 31. Creating the Creation; 32. World-Building; 33. The Bright Destroyer.