Jack London 
The Human Drift 

The human Drift is written by Jack London and revolves around the history of people traveling in quest of sustenance while brandishing swords. The story catches glimpses of ghost races in the foggy younger world, rising, killing, finding food, constructing crude civilizations, rotting, succumbing to the swords of stronger hands, and fading completely away. Like all other animals, man has roamed the earth looking for food. His great travels have not been motivated by romance or adventure, but rather by his desire to eat. Whether it's a broke gentleman setting sail for Virginia or a skinny Cantonese getting hired to work on Hawaii's sugar fields, gentleman or coolie, it's always a last-ditch effort to get some food or more food than he can get at home. The fundamental idea behind each evolution has persisted, although the actual outcomes are never the same twice. The man was not, was, and will not be again. The specific evolution of the solar satellite we refer to as "Earth" only took up a tiny fraction of time in eternity, which is beyond our comprehension. And only a small percentage of that little period is occupied by humans.