This is the first volume in the series of novels Doris Lessing calls collectively Canopus in
Argos: Archives. Presented as a compilation of documents reports letters speeches and
journal entries this purports to be a general study of the planet Shikasta-clearly the planet
Earth-to be used by history students of the higher planet Canopus and to be stored in the
Canopian archives. For eons galactic empires have struggled against one another and Shikasta
is one of the main battlegrounds.Johar an emissary from Canopus and the primary contributor to
the archives visits Shikasta over the millennia from the time of the giants and the biblical
great flood up to the present. With every visit he tries to distract Shikastans from the evil
influences of the planet Shammat but notes with dismay the ever-growing chaos and destruction
of Shikasta as its people hurl themselves towards World War III and annihilation.
