Last and First Men, by Olaf Stapledon, a 1930 science fiction novel bound with Star Maker, the sequel, copyright 1937, republished in 1968 by Dover (at $2.00 for the combined volume). (Dover has since republished the novels in separate volumes at much higher prices.) It has been awaiting reading since I bought it in or about 1968. Very odd novel, completely defying the rule "show don't tell." it is ALL tell -- a historical narrative from the viewpoint of a far distant future. One thing for sure: Stapledon (a British philosopher who died in 1950) had no use for Americans. Frankly, I am not sure he was that crazy about anyone else, either. Got off the track in his vision of the future by positing a war between Britain and . . . FRANCE. The Germans, humbled by The Great War, sat it out. Strange and grim, the prototype of the "future history" genre, with a perspective of millions of years.
--Ken