It concerns the discovery in the Indian Ocean of a sea-dwelling race, an intelligent breed of newts, who are initially enslaved and exploited.

The first section recounts Captain van Toch's discovery of the Newts on Tanahmasa, a small island near Sumatra, their initial exploitation in the service of pearl farming, the beginning of their spread around the oceans of the world, and the development of their speech and absorption of human culture.

The section closes with the founding of The Salamander Syndicate, an ambitious plan developed by Mr Bondy to redirect Newt resources away from the declining pearl industry and into larger hydroengineering projects.

Čapek targets a range of human foibles, from the superficiality of Hollywood starlets, to the arrogance of prevalent European attitudes towards non-white races.

He also skewers the self-assuredness of science; scientists are repeatedly seen underestimating the capabilities of the Newts and falsely assessing other related issues, always in full confidence of the validity of their claims.

The essay cites Mr. Povondra's clippings as its main source of historical evidence, and includes a number of footnotes and quotations from his collection.

"[3] The book is a dark satire, poking fun extensively at the contemporary European politics, including colonialism, fascism and Nazism, segregation in America, and the arms race.

The author's opinion of the United States' social problems also appears very pessimistic, as whenever that country is mentioned as dealing with a crisis, American mobs "lynch negroes" as scapegoats.

One passage, depicting the European nations willing to hand over China to the Newts as long as they are themselves spared and overriding the Chinese's desperate protests, seems a premonition of the Munich Agreement, three years after the book was written – in which the writer's own country suffered a similar fate in a futile effort to appease the Nazis.

Reviewers describe the 1936 Allen & Unwin translation by the husband-and-wife team of Marie and Robert Weatherall as competent but uninspired.

[5] The 1985 translation, by the Czech Ewald Osers, is regarded by many reviewers as superior, capturing the crispness and strong metaphors of the original.

With Henry Davis, Txi Whizz; consultant, Nigel Bourne In 1998, Stephan Koplowitz directed/choreographed/produced a movement/theater/music production of War With the Newts at Dance Theater Workshop, the script was adapted by David Lindsay-Abaire, with music by Andrew Warshaw.

[7] In 2005 a BBC Radio adaption was produced, starring Dermot Crowley, Sally Hawkins, Henry Goodman, Geoffrey Beevers, Tina Gray, and Adrian Scarborough.

[10][11] In Jaroslav Kalfař's 2023 novel A Brief History of Living Forever the main character is the leading actress in a film adaptation called The Great Newt War.

Dave Langford reviewed War with the Newts for White Dwarf #74, and stated that "Čapek's sophisticated wit converts what could be a plodding satire into something painfully funny.