The book's title page presents the work as being composed "in six volumes," of which the present book is only "Vol. I"; but in fact no more volumes were ever published. The book is a series of letters from British representatives in the foreign cities of
Constantinople, Rome, Paris, and Moscow and a smaller number of letters returned to them from the UK. The representatives address their letters to a
Lord High Treasurer who is in service of King George VI. The technology of the 20th century is unchanged from Madden's own era; the focus is instead on the political and religious state of the world in the future. In Madden's future history, much of the world has come to be dominated by the
Jesuits. In the early 19th century, a Jesuit became Pope Paul IX; he seized temporal control over most of Italy. The eighteenth century had been one of war between Spain, France, and the
Holy Roman Empire, but weakened by conflict and mismanagement all three powers became
vassals to the Pontiff by the mid-nineteenth century. Also under papal control are vast estates in Africa, China, and Paraguay. In France, King Louis XIX reigns but the French state is weak and he is controlled by his Jesuit prime minister. In Constantinople, the
Ottoman Empire has fallen and been replaced by a
Tatar one. The new regime pursued a liberal religious policy, and by 1997
Deism and Christianity had come to dominate, with Jesuit missionaries active and powerful. Russia is an expansionist power, having annexed Finland, Poland, and parts of
Persia and Turkey; while traditionally a foe of the Jesuits the late 20th century sees them growing in power there as well. ==Notes==