The World Only Spins Forward: The Ascent of Angels in America is an oral history of the play Angels in America, first published in 2018. Theater director and writer Isaac Butler and journalist Dan Kois co-authored the history based upon interviews conducted in 2016–2017 with people involved with the play in different ways. The oral history was originally compiled by the authors for the 2016 Slate cover story "Angels in America: The Complete Oral History". The release of the book commemorated the 25th anniversary of the play's Broadway theatre premiere in 1993.