Welcome to the final episode of our current Tale for Our Time - Joseph Conrad's protean investigation into the psychology of urban terrorism. As The Secret Agent concludes, we learn the fate of Winnie Verloc. And then city life reverts to normal, and the terrorist with the bomb strapped to his chest walks the streets of London:
He had no future. He disdained it. He was a force. His thoughts caressed the images of ruin and destruction. He walked frail, insignificant, shabby, miserable—and terrible in the simplicity of his idea calling madness and despair to the regeneration of the world. Nobody looked at him. He passed on unsuspected and deadly, like a pest in the street full of men.
Like the bomber at Parsons Green last week, and Manchester a few weeks earlier, and Westminster just before that, and Paris and Brussels and St Petersburg and Istanbul and on and on...
Members of The Mark Steyn Club can hear me read the conclusion of The Time Machine simply by clicking here and logging-in. Earlier episodes can be found here.
We'll be back with a brand new audio adventure next month, and next week I'll be hosting a Book Club Q&A on our audio adventures with Conrad, Conan Doyle, H G Wells et al. Meanwhile, if you've yet to hear any of our Tales for Our Time, you can do so by joining The Mark Steyn Club. For details on membership, see here - and don't forget our new gift membership.
Later this evening, I'll be on your TV screen with Tucker Carlson, live on Fox News at 8pm Eastern/5pm Pacific. Do join me tomorrow, Thursday, for a full hour with "Varney & Co" on Fox Business at 11am Eastern.
