Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze That Captured Turn-Of-The-Century America
Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze That Captured Turn-Of-The-Century America
Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze That Captured Turn-Of-The-Century America
Description
Description
This New York Times headline was no joke.
In the early 1900s, many Americans actually believed we had discovered intelligent life on Mars, as best-selling science writer David Baron chronicles in The Martians, his truly bizarre tale of a nation swept up in Mars mania.
At the center of Baron's historical drama is Percival Lowell, the Boston Brahmin and Harvard scion, who observed "canals" etched into the surface of Mars. Lowell devised a grand theory that the red planet was home to a utopian society that had built gargantuan ditches to funnel precious meltwater from the polar icecaps to desert farms and oasis cities. The public fell in love with the ambitious amateur astronomer who shared his findings in speeches and wildly popular books.
While at first people treated the Martians whimsically--Martians headlining Broadway shows, biologists speculating whether they were winged or gilled--the discussion quickly became serious. Inventor Nikola Tesla announced he had received radio signals from Mars; Alexander Graham Bell agreed there was "no escape from the conviction" that intelligent beings inhabited the planet. Martian excitement reached its zenith when Lowell financed an expedition to photograph Mars from Chile's Atacama Desert, resulting in what newspapers hailed as proof of the Martian canals' existence.
Triumph quickly yielded to tragedy. Those wild claims and highly speculative photographs emboldened Lowell's critics, whose withering attacks gathered steam and eventually wrecked the man and his theory--but not the fervor he had started. Although Lowell would die discredited and delusional in 1916, the Mars frenzy spurred a nascent literary genre called science fiction, and the world's sense of its place in the universe would never be the same.
Today, the red planet maintains its grip on the public's imagination. Many see Mars as civilization's destiny--the first step toward our becoming an interplanetary species--but, as David Baron demonstrates, this tendency to project our hopes onto the world next door is hardly new. The Martians is a scintillating and necessary reminder that while we look to Mars for answers, what we often find are mirrors of ourselves.
In the early 1900s, many Americans actually believed we had discovered intelligent life on Mars, as best-selling science writer David Baron chronicles in The Martians, his truly bizarre tale of a nation swept up in Mars mania.
At the center of Baron's historical drama is Percival Lowell, the Boston Brahmin and Harvard scion, who observed "canals" etched into the surface of Mars. Lowell devised a grand theory that the red planet was home to a utopian society that had built gargantuan ditches to funnel precious meltwater from the polar icecaps to desert farms and oasis cities. The public fell in love with the ambitious amateur astronomer who shared his findings in speeches and wildly popular books.
While at first people treated the Martians whimsically--Martians headlining Broadway shows, biologists speculating whether they were winged or gilled--the discussion quickly became serious. Inventor Nikola Tesla announced he had received radio signals from Mars; Alexander Graham Bell agreed there was "no escape from the conviction" that intelligent beings inhabited the planet. Martian excitement reached its zenith when Lowell financed an expedition to photograph Mars from Chile's Atacama Desert, resulting in what newspapers hailed as proof of the Martian canals' existence.
Triumph quickly yielded to tragedy. Those wild claims and highly speculative photographs emboldened Lowell's critics, whose withering attacks gathered steam and eventually wrecked the man and his theory--but not the fervor he had started. Although Lowell would die discredited and delusional in 1916, the Mars frenzy spurred a nascent literary genre called science fiction, and the world's sense of its place in the universe would never be the same.
Today, the red planet maintains its grip on the public's imagination. Many see Mars as civilization's destiny--the first step toward our becoming an interplanetary species--but, as David Baron demonstrates, this tendency to project our hopes onto the world next door is hardly new. The Martians is a scintillating and necessary reminder that while we look to Mars for answers, what we often find are mirrors of ourselves.
Critical Reviews
Critical Reviews
A tale astonishing and improbable. Ego! Madness! Tesla! Turn-of-the-century bon vivants and engineering-savvy Martians! And, at heart, the very human longing for a better world. Impressively researched and perfectly executed, The Martians is . . . a fizzing terrific read.--Mary Roach, author of Packing for Mars
David Baron, America's premier scribe writing at the intersection of astronomy and social history, captures the Red Planet Craze in all its quirky and fabulous weirdness. . . . The Martians makes for enlightening and insightful reading, but it's also just plain fun.--Hampton Sides, author of The Wide Wide Sea
Entertaining account of the Mars madness that saturated popular culture at the turn of the 20th century.... Are there Martians out there? Baron has evident good fun looking into the origins of an ongoing craze.-- "Kirkus Reviews"
David Baron's exuberant book tells the story of a seemingly alien race--Americans of a century or so ago--that, on closer inspection, bears an uncanny resemblance to us today. The rich had gotten fantastically richer, life was unsettled by an array of new technologies, and, in their frustration, people began looking elsewhere for answers.--Russell Shorto, author of Taking Manhattan
David Baron beautifully captures all the drama, humor, and sheer craziness at the turn of the twentieth century when America went bonkers over the possibility of life on Mars. Well researched and thoroughly entertaining.--Marcia Bartusiak, author of The Day We Found the Universe
In his skillful tour of the era, David Baron introduces us to a colorful cast of astronomers, inventors, and kooks, as they projected both the dreams and prejudices of a rapidly transforming society out into the solar system.--Peter Brannen, author of The Ends of the World
[David Baron's] book reveals the amazing backstory of what led to today's Mars exploration program and the place that Mars holds in our collective consciousness.--Bruce Jakosky, project lead, NASA's MAVEN mission to Mars (2003-2021)
David Baron uses diligent research and smooth storytelling to explore the fine line between delusion and genius, the allure of unknown planets, and--perhaps the biggest revelation of all--the surprisingly potent afterlives of discredited ideas.--Darrell Hartman, author of Battle of Ink and Ice
Based on meticulous and original research, gifted science writer David Baron has provided, in brilliant prose, a fascinating account of the scientific and cultural phenomenon known as 'Mars mania.'... He has provided a book anyone who loves Mars is sure to love.--William Sheehan, Mars historian, coauthor (with Jim Bell) of Discovering Mars
David Baron has written a scintillating and revealing story of Percival Lowell's claims of artificial canals on Mars and the impact of these claims on science and popular culture. . . . The book is an original contribution to scholarship that will also appeal to a broad audience.--Steven J. Dick, former NASA chief historian, author of Astrobiology, Discovery, and Societal Impact
Mars, our barren neighbor, has served as an empty canvas for our expansionist imaginations since long before Elon Musk arrived on the scene. Baron chronicles the lasting influence of the Mars mania that gripped America during the early 1900s, how it captured the imaginations of Nikola Tesla and Alexander Graham Bell, generated speculative news headlines, fueled astronomical ambitions and left an indelible imprint on our culture.-- "New York Times Book Review"
Publishing Information
Publishing Information
Publisher:
Liveright Publishing Corporation
Pub date:
2025-08-26
Length:
336 pages
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