When I am dead, I hope it is said;

Hmm. While I always felt that it was hinted at/assumed that it was a future time from ours, and that the various races (except elves) had been created through mutations from a nuclear war, I don't recall anything *explicit*. Frankly, I think making it obvious would have diluted it. Instead, it made it kind of timeless, adding a certain cyclic nature to the story, by hinting at it being set in the future, but using elements from our past myths.

So yeah, if subways and skyscraper ruins show up explicitly in a Planet of the Apes way, I'll be gravely disappointed. Then again, I'm not sure how you'd do even a single Shannara book as less than a miniseries, and do it any sort of justice. *shrug*