I just reread this old favorite - this time a "critical text" with an introduction and appendices edited by Leon Stover. The book was good, as usual, but the introduction, which focused on Wells' opinions and theories about uptopian and dystopian societies (yawn). Unfortunately the annotations focused on the same thing, not paying much attention to the story itself - just focusing on what the story might be telling us about Wells' views about society.
Frankly, I don't really care about Wells' opinions as to how society ought to function, or even the fact that he was probably using the story the same way Stover is using it - as a fable to illustrate some point about the failings of society, and how we'd all do better if we had a central world government. I'm just looking for a good science fiction read. So, while I normally enjoy an annotated version of a book I like (I devour ones on works by Bram Stoker and J.R.R. Tolien, for example) this one actually detracted from the enjoyment of the story. Yes, yes, I know it's literary analysis, but that wasn't what I had in mind.
Still, it was good to see the story through a new pair of eyes. Now I'm just waiting to get the DVD of the 1960's movie of the book.