The War of the Worlds

1898 science fiction novel by H. G. Wells

For other uses, see The War of the Worlds (disambiguation).

The War of the Worlds

1898 UK first edition

Author| H. G. Wells
Illustrator| Warwick Goble
Language| English
Genre| Science fiction
Publisher| William Heinemann (UK)
Harper & Bros (US)

Publication date

| 1898[1]
Publication place| England
Pages| 319
Text| The War of the Worlds at Wikisource
The War of the Worlds, by H. G. Wells. LibriVox recording by Rebecca Dittman. Book 1, Chapter 1.

The War of the Worlds is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells. It was written between 1895 and 1897,[2] and serialised in Pearson's Magazine in the UK and Cosmopolitan magazine in the US in 1897. The full novel was first published in hardcover in 1898 by William Heinemann. The War of the Worlds is one of the earliest stories to detail a conflict between humankind and an extraterrestrial race.[3] The novel is the first-person narrative of an unnamed protagonist in Surrey and his younger brother who escapes to Tillingham in Essex as London and Southern England are invaded by Martians. It is one of the most commented-on works in the science fiction canon.[4]

The plot is similar to other works of invasion literature from the same period and has been variously interpreted as a commentary on the theory of evolution, imperialism, and Victorian era fears, superstitions and prejudices. Wells later noted that inspiration for the plot was the catastrophic effect of European colonisation on the Aboriginal Tasmanians. Some historians have argued that Wells wrote the book to encourage his readership to question the morality of imperialism.[5][6]

The War of the Worlds has never been out of print: it spawned numerous feature films, radio dramas, a record album, comic book adaptations, television series, and sequels or parallel stories by other authors. It was dramatised in a 1938 radio programme, directed and narrated by Orson Welles, that reportedly caused panic among listeners who did not know that the events were fictional.[7]

## Plot

[edit]

> Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us.

> — H. G. Wells (1898), The War of the Worlds

### The coming of the Martians

[edit]

First Martian emerging from the cylinder that had fallen from the sky. Illustration by Henrique Alvim Corrêa

In the mid-1890s, aliens on Mars plot an invasion of Earth because their world is becoming uninhabitable. In the early 20th century, in the summer, an object thought to be a meteor lands on Horsell Common, near the narrator's home. It turns out to be an artificial cylinder launched towards Earth months earlier, as Earth and Mars approached opposition. Several Martians emerge and struggle with Earth's gravity and atmosphere. When humans approach the cylinder waving a white flag, the Martians incinerate them using a heat ray. The crowd flees. That evening a large military force surrounds the cylinder.

The next night, the narrator sees a three-legged Martian "fighting-machine" (tripod), armed with a heat-ray and a chemical weapon. Tripods have wiped out the human soldiers around the cylinder and destroyed most of Woking. The narrator approaches his own house and finds the landlord dead. He offers shelter to an artilleryman whose battery was wiped out attacking the cylinder. The narrator and the artilleryman try to escape but are separated during a Martian attack. As refugees try to cross the River Wey, the army destroys a tripod with artillery fire, and the Martians retreat. The narrator travels to Walton, where he meets a curate.

Martians discharging Heat-Rays in the Thames Valley, illustration by Henrique Alvim Corrêa

The Martians attack again, and people begin to flee London. The narrator's brother reaches the coast and buys passage to Europe on a refugee ship. Tripods attack, but a torpedo ram, HMS Thunder Child, destroys two before being destroyed itself, and the evacuation fleet escapes. Soon, resistance collapses, and Martians roam the shattered landscape unhindered.

### The Earth under the Martians

[edit]

In Book Two, the narrator and the curate witness a Martian machine seizing people and tossing them into a metal carrier. The narrator realises that the Martian invaders have plans for their victims. When a fifth Martian cylinder lands, both men are trapped beneath the ruins of a manor house. The narrator learns that Martians feed on blood. The curate falls into despair. When he tries to eat their remaining food, the narrator knocks him unconscious. A passing Martian removes the curate's body, but the narrator escapes.

The Martians abandon the cylinder's crater, and the narrator heads for West London. En route, he finds Martian red weed everywhere, prickly vegetation spreading wherever there is water, but notices that it is slowly dying. On Putney Heath, he encounters the artilleryman. Driven mad by his trauma, he attempts suicide by approaching a stationary fighting machine on Primrose Hill. He discovers that all the Martians are dead, killed by earthly pathogens, to which they had no immunity.

The narrator suffers a nervous breakdown. Returning to Woking, he finds his wife.

## Background

[edit]

### Inspiration

[edit]

Wells explained that he was exposed to the scenario of an empty and depopulated London almost simultaneously by a friend during a conversation and through the novel A Sensational Trance, by Forbes Dawson. Being attracted to the idea about writing a similar story himself, he tried to come up with a reason for why London was empty, and concluded the one that made the most sense was a mass exodus. When thinking about what could have caused the flight, he suddenly remembered his brother's idea about superior beings from another planet suddenly dropping from the sky. Wells's son Anthony West claimed another seed for the novel can be found in The Time Machine, where the narrator speculates about the possible future evolution of humanity, thinking it could have "developed into something inhuman, unsympathetic, and overwhelmingly powerful". Next, the picture came to him that the aliens would arrive in interplanetary cylinders, an idea he borrowed from Jules Verne's stories about spaceflight. When deciding from what planet, he picked Mars, both because it was the one most similar to Earth, and because scientists back then wrongly assumed Mars was older than Earth, and therefore the Martians would have a longer evolutionary history than humans, having evolved into much more advanced creatures.[8]

Wells was trained as a science teacher during the latter half of the 1880s. One of his teachers was Thomas Henry Huxley, a major advocate of Darwinism. Wells later taught science, and his first book was a biology textbook.[9][10] Much of his work makes contemporary ideas of science and technology easily understandable.[11]

### Scientific setting

[edit]

The War of the Worlds presents itself as a factual account of the Martian invasion. The scientific fascinations of the novel are established in the opening chapter. The narrator views Mars through a telescope, and Wells offers the image of the superior Martians having observed human affairs as though watching tiny organisms through a microscope. In August 1894, a French astronomer reported sightings of a "strange light" on Mars.[12][13] Wells used this observation to open the novel, imagining these lights to be the launching of the Martian cylinders toward Earth.[13]

Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli described linear features on Mars in 1877, wrongly supposing these were canali (Italian for "channels").[14] In 1895, American astronomer Percival Lowell speculated in his book Mars that these might be irrigation channels, constructed by a sentient life form to support existence on an arid, dying world.[15][16] The novel also explores ideas related to Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection.[17]

In 1896, Wells published an essay on 'Intelligence on Mars' in the Saturday Review, setting out ideas about life on Mars. Wells speculates on the nature of Martian inhabitants and how their evolutionary progress might compare to humans.[18][19] These ideas are used almost unchanged in The War of the Worlds.[13][18]

### Physical location

[edit]

An art installation in Woking depicts a tripod and (out of picture) a Martian cylinder. "The Woking Martian"; Michael Condron, 1998

In 1895, Wells married Catherine Robbins, and moved with her to Woking in Surrey. There, he spent his mornings walking or cycling in the countryside, and his afternoons writing. He used these bicycle tours to find places he would refer to in his novel. He wrote in his autobiography that he “wheeled about the district marking down suitable places and people for destruction by my Martians”.[20][21] A 23 feet (7.0 m) high sculpture of a tripod fighting machine, entitled The Woking Martian, based on descriptions in the novel stands in Crown Passage close to the local railway station in Woking, designed and constructed in 1998 by artist Michael Condron. Fifty meters further up the pedestrianised street is a concrete and brick representation of a Martian cylinder.[22]

### Cultural setting

[edit]

Wells's depiction of late Victorian suburban culture in the novel was an accurate representation of his experiences.[23] In the late 19th century, the British Empire was the predominant colonial power on the globe, making its domestic heart a poignant and terrifying starting point for an invasion by Martians with their own imperialist agenda.[24]

## Publication

[edit]

In the late 1890s it was common for novels to be serialised in magazines or newspapers before publication in full, with each part of the serialisation ending on a cliffhanger to entice audiences to buy the next issue. This practice was familiar from Charles Dickens' novels earlier in the 19th century. The War of the Worlds was first serialised in the United Kingdom in Pearson's Magazine from April to December 1897.[25] Wells was paid £200 and Pearsons demanded to know the ending of the piece before committing to publish it.[26] The complete volume was first published by Heinemann in 1898 and has been in print ever since,[27] although several editions exist. The 1924 Atlantic edition is considered the definitive text used for reprints. In addition, a revised version for schools was first published by Heinemann in 1951.[28]

Two unauthorised serialisations of the novel were published in the United States prior to publication of the novel. The first was in the New York Evening Journal where the story was published as Fighters from Mars or the War of the Worlds, located in a New York setting, between December 1897 and January 1898.[29] The second version had the Martians landing near and around Boston, and was published by The Boston Post as Fighters from Mars, or the War of the Worlds in and near Boston in 1898.[9] Hughes and Geduld suggest that Wells may inadvertently have agreed to the serialisation in the New York Evening Journal.[2]

* Title page, 1927 Amazing Stories reprint, cover illustration by Frank R. Paul

* A reprint of The War of the Worlds was cover-featured on the July 1951 issue of Famous Fantastic Mysteries.

## Reception

[edit]

### Contemporary

[edit]

The War of the Worlds was received favourably by both readers and critics. The Illustrated London News wrote that the serialisation in Pearson's magazine had "a very distinct success".[30] The story did even better as a book, and reviewers rated it as "the very best work he has yet produced",[30] and highlighting the story's originality in showing Mars in a new light through the concept of an alien invasion of Earth.[30] Writing for Harper's Weekly, Sidney Brooks admired Wells's writing style: "he has complete check over his imagination, and makes it effective by turning his most horrible of fancies into the language of the simplest, least startling denomination".[30] Praising Wells's "power of vivid realization", The Daily News reviewer wrote, "the imagination, the extraordinary power of presentation, the moral significance of the book cannot be contested".[30] There was, however, some criticism of the brutal nature of the events in the narrative.[31]

### Later

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## Interpretations

[edit]

### Natural selection

[edit]

In the novel, the conflict between humankind and the Martians is portrayed as a survival of the fittest, with the Martians whose longer period of successful evolution on the older Mars has led to them developing a superior intelligence, able to create weapons far in advance of humans on the younger planet Earth, who have not had the opportunity to develop sufficient intelligence to construct similar weapons.[32]

### Human evolution

[edit]

Further information: Biology in fiction

The narrator refers to an 1893 publication suggesting that the evolution of the human brain might outstrip the development of the body. Organs such as the stomach, nose, teeth, and hair would wither. Humans would be left as thinking machines, needing mechanical devices much like the Tripod fighting machines, to be able to interact with their environment. This publication is probably Wells's own "The Man of the Year Million", first published in The Pall Mall Gazette on 6 November 1893, which suggests similar ideas.[33][34] In his vision for the future of humanity, Wells imagined them as having huge hands and large heads with soulful eyes. The rest of the body had shriveled into nothing. Instead of a digestive system, they absorb liquid nutrients from a pool through the surface of their body, while machinery does all the work their muscles can no longer accomplish, and their emotions have been replaced by an intellect that have turned society into a "paragon of order and calm" through co-operation.[35]

### Colonialism and imperialism

[edit]

A Canadian postage stamp showing the British Empire at the time of the novel's publication

While invasion literature had provided an imaginative foundation for the idea of the heart of the British Empire being conquered by foreign forces, it was not until The War of the Worlds that the British public was presented with an adversary that was completely superior to themselves.[36] A significant motivating force behind the success of the British Empire was its use of sophisticated technology; the Martians, also attempting to establish an empire on Earth, have technology superior to their British adversaries.[37] In The War of the Worlds, Wells depicted an imperial power as the victim of imperial aggression, and thus perhaps encouraging the reader to consider the morality of imperialism itself.[36]

### Social Darwinism

[edit]

Social Darwinism was a theory in Wells's time that argued that the success of different ethnic groups in world affairs, and social classes in a society, were the result of evolutionary struggle in which the group or class more fit to succeed did so.[38] The novel dramatises these ideas, as the more advanced Martians exercise their "rights" as a superior race over humans.[39]

## Antecedents

[edit]

### Terrestrial

[edit]

The Battle of Dorking initiated invasion literature.

Between 1871 and 1914 more than 60 works of fiction for adult readers describing invasions of Great Britain were published. The original work was The Battle of Dorking (1871) by George Tomkyns Chesney, which portrays a surprise German attack and landing on the south coast of England, made possible by the distraction of the Royal Navy in colonial patrols and the army in an Irish insurrection. The German army makes short work of English militia and rapidly marches to London. This story was published in Blackwood's Magazine in May 1871 and was so popular that it was reprinted a month later as a pamphlet which sold 80,000 copies.[40][41] There are clear plot similarities between Wells's book and The Battle of Dorking, with the destruction of the Home Counties of Southern England by the invader.[41] However, The War of the Worlds is a far more imaginative story.[42] The invasion literature genre provided a familiar base from which to support the success of The War of the Worlds. It may also have proved an important foundation for Wells's ideas, as he had never seen or fought in a war.[43]

### Extraterrestrial

[edit]

Wells is credited with establishing several extraterrestrial themes which were later greatly expanded by science fiction writers in the 20th century, including first contact and war between planets and their differing species. There were, however, stories of aliens and alien invasion prior to the publication of The War of the Worlds.[3]

Voltaire's Micromégas (1752) includes two beings from Saturn and Sirius who, though human in appearance, are of immense size and visit the Earth out of curiosity. At first the difference in scale between them and the peoples of Earth makes them think that the planet is uninhabited. When they discover the haughty Earth-centric views of Earth philosophers, they are greatly amused by how important Earth beings think they are compared to greater beings in the universe such as themselves.[44]

In 1892 Robert Potter, an Australian clergyman, published The Germ Growers in London. It describes a covert invasion by aliens who take on the appearance of human beings and attempt to develop a virulent disease to assist in their plans for global conquest. It was not widely read, and consequently Wells's vastly more successful novel is generally credited as the seminal alien invasion story.[3]

The first science fiction to be set primarily on Mars may be Across the Zodiac: The Story of a Wrecked Record (1880) by Percy Greg. It concerned a civil war on Mars. Another Mars novel, this time dealing with benevolent Martians coming to Earth to give humankind the benefit of their advanced knowledge, was published in 1897 by Kurd Lasswitz – Two Planets (Auf Zwei Planeten). It was not translated until 1971, and thus may not have influenced Wells, although it did depict a Mars influenced by the ideas of Percival Lowell.[45]

Other examples are Hugh MacColl's Mr. Stranger's Sealed Packet (1889), which took place on Mars, Gustavus W. Pope's Journey to Mars (1894), and Pharaoh's Broker by Elmer Dwiggins, writing under the name of Ellsworth Douglass, in which the protagonist encounters an Egyptian civilisation on Mars which, while parallel to that of Earth, has evolved somehow independently.[46]

## The work's influence

[edit]

Further information: Mars in fiction and Invasion literature

Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess of Mars (cover illustrated by Frank Schoonover)

The publication and reception of The War of the Worlds brought the term "Martians" into popular usage for hostile aliens of all kinds.[47]

Six weeks after the publication of the novel, The Boston Post newspaper published another alien invasion story, an unauthorised sequel to The War of the Worlds, which turned the tables on the invaders. Edison's Conquest of Mars was written by Garrett P. Serviss, a now little-remembered writer, who described the inventor Thomas Edison leading a counterattack against the invaders on their home soil.[25] Though this is actually a sequel to Fighters from Mars, a revised and unauthorised reprint of The War of the Worlds, they both were first printed in the Boston Post in 1898.[48] Lazar Lagin published Major Well Andyou in the U.S.S.R. in 1962, an alternative view of events in The War of the Worlds from the viewpoint of a traitor.[49]

## Adaptations

[edit]

Further information: List of works based on The War of the Worlds

As of 2024, The War of the Worlds has inspired seven films, as well as various radio dramas, comics, video games, television series, and sequels or parallel stories by other authors. Most are set in different locations or eras to the original novel. Among the adaptations is the 1938 radio broadcast narrated and directed by Orson Welles.[50][51][52]

The first film adaptation was The War of the Worlds, produced in 1953 by George Pal, directed by Byron Haskin, and starring Gene Barry.[53] In 2005, Steven Spielberg directed another film version starring Tom Cruise.[54][55]

In 1978, Jeff Wayne produced a musical album of the story, with the voices of Richard Burton and David Essex. Wayne has also toured two live concert musical versions.[56][57]

An immersive experience of The War of the Worlds set to Jeff Wayne's score opened in London in 2019. The show uses a blend of virtual reality, volumetric holograms and live theatre.[58]

## See also

[edit]

* Deus ex machina
* Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century
* The Space Machine
* The Second Invasion from Mars
* The Massacre of Mankind — an authorised sequel

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Wells, H. G. (1898). The War of the Worlds. London: William Heinemann. p. iii – via S4U Languages. Facsimile of the original 1st edition.
2. ^ a b Hughes, David Y.; Geduld, Harry M. (1993). A Critical Edition of The War of the Worlds: H.G. Wells's Scientific Romance. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-32853-5.
3. ^ a b c Flynn, John L. (2005). War of the Worlds: From Wells to Spielberg. Galactic Books. ISBN 978-0-976-94000-5. OL 8589510M.
4. ^ Parrinder (2000), p. 132.
5. ^ Ball, Philip (18 July 2018). "What the War of the Worlds means now". New Statesman. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
6. ^ Wills, Matthew (3 December 2018). "What The War of the Worlds Had to Do with Tasmania". JSTOR Daily. Retrieved 29 December 2024.
7. ^ Schwartz, A. Brad. "The Infamous "War of the Worlds" Radio Broadcast Was a Magnificent Fluke". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
8. ^ The War of the Worlds: From H. G. Wells to Orson Welles, Jeff Wayne, Steven Spielberg and Beyond
9. ^ a b Parrinder (1997), pp. 4–5.
10. ^ Parrinder, Patrick (1981). The Science Fiction of H.G. Wells. Oxford University Press. pp. 15–16. ISBN 0-19-502812-0.
11. ^ Haynes, Rosylnn D. (1980). H.G. Wells Discover of the Future. Macmillan. p. 239\. ISBN 978-0-333-27186-5. OL 9793640M.
12. ^ "A Strange Light on Mars". Nature. 50 (1292): 319. 1894. Bibcode:1894Natur..50..319.. doi:10.1038/050319c0. S2CID 11762358.
13. ^ a b c Batchelor (1985), pp. 23–24.
14. ^ Killheffer, Robert K. J.; Stableford, Brian; Langford, David (2024). "Mars". In Clute, John; Langford, David; Sleight, Graham (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (4th ed.). Retrieved 9 May 2024.
15. ^ Stableford, Brian (2006). "Mars". Science Fact and Science Fiction: An Encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis. pp. 281–284\. ISBN 978-0-415-97460-8.
16. ^ Baxter, Stephen (2005). Glenn Yeffeth (ed.). "H.G. Wells's Enduring Mythos of Mars". War of the Worlds: Fresh Perspectives on the H.G. Wells Classic/ Edited by Glenn Yeffeth. BenBalla: 186–187. ISBN 1-932100-55-5.
17. ^ Wagar, W. Warren (1989). "H. G. Wells and the scientific imagination". The Virginia Quarterly Review. 65 (3): 390–400\. JSTOR 26437855.
18. ^ a b Wells, H. G. (1896). "Intelligence on Mars". The Saturday Review. 81 (2110): 345–346. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
19. ^ Haynes (1980), p. 240.
20. ^ Martin, Christopher (1988). H.G. Wells. Wayland. pp. 42–43\. ISBN 1-85210-489-9.
21. ^ McKie, Robin (28 February 2016). "Woking pays homage to HG Wells, the man who brought the Martians to town". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
22. ^ Pearson, Lynn F. (2006). Public Art Since 1950. Osprey Publishing. p. 64\. ISBN 0-7478-0642-X.
23. ^ Lackey, Mercedes (2005). Glenn Yeffeth (ed.). "In Woking's Image". War of the Worlds: Fresh Perspectives on the H.G. Wells Classic/ Edited by Glenn Yeffeth. BenBalla: 216. ISBN 1-932100-55-5.
24. ^ Franklin, H. Bruce (2008). War Stars. University of Massachusetts Press. p. 65\. ISBN 978-1-55849-651-4.
25. ^ a b Gerrold, David (2005). Yeffeth, Glenn (ed.). "War of the Worlds". War of the Worlds: Fresh Perspectives on the H.G. Wells Classic. BenBalla: 202–205. ISBN 978-1932100556.
26. ^ Parrinder (1997), p. 8.
27. ^ "The War of the Worlds". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
28. ^ The War of the Worlds: From H. G. Wells to Orson Welles, Jeff Wayne, Steven Spielberg & Beyond
29. ^ Urbanski, Heather (2007). Plagues, Apocalypses and Bug-Eyed Monsters. McFarland. pp. 156–158\. ISBN 978-0-786-42916-5. OL 8139748M.
30. ^ a b c d e Beck, Peter J. (2016). The War of the Worlds: From H. G. Wells to Orson Welles, Jeff Wayne, Steven Spielberg and Beyond. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 143, 144.
31. ^ Aldiss, Brian W.; Wingrove, David (1986). Trillion Year Spree: the History of Science Fiction. London: Victor Gollancz. p. 123\. ISBN 0-575-03943-4.
32. ^ Williamson, Jack (2005). Glenn Yeffeth (ed.). "The Evolution of the Martians". War of the Worlds: Fresh Perspectives on the H.G. Wells Classic/ Edited by Glenn Yeffeth. BenBella: 189–195. ISBN 978-1932100556.
33. ^ Haynes (1980), pp. 129–131.
34. ^ Draper, Michael (1987). H.G. Wells. Macmillan. pp. 51–52\. ISBN 0-333-40747-4.
35. ^ The Myth and Mystery of UFOs
36. ^ a b Zebrowski, George (2005). Glenn Yeffeth (ed.). "The Fear of the Worlds". War of the Worlds: Fresh Perspectives on the H.G. Wells Classic/ Edited by Glenn Yeffeth. BenBalla: 235–241. ISBN 1-932100-55-5.
37. ^ Roberts, Adam (2006). The History of Science Fiction. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 148. ISBN 0-333-97022-5.
38. ^ McClellan, James Edward; Dorn, Harold (2006). Science and Technology in World History. JHU Press. pp. 378–390\. ISBN 0-8018-8360-1.
39. ^ Parrinder (2000), p. 137.
40. ^ Eby, Cecil D. (1988). The Road to Armageddon: The Martial Spirit in English Popular Literature, 1870–1914. Duke University Press. pp. 11–13. ISBN 0-8223-0775-8.
41. ^ a b Batchelor (1985), p. 7.
42. ^ Parrinder (2000), p. 142.
43. ^ McConnell, Frank (1981). The Science Fiction of H.G. Wells. Oxford University Press. p. 134. ISBN 0-19-502812-0.
44. ^ Guthke (1990), pp. 301–304. sfnp error: no target: CITEREFGuthke1990 (help)
45. ^ Hotakainen, Markus (2008). Mars: A Myth Turned to Landscape. Springer. p. 205\. ISBN 978-0-387-76507-5.
46. ^ Westfahl, Gary (2000). Space and Beyond. Greenwood Publishing Groups. p. 38\. ISBN 0-313-30846-2.
47. ^ Silverberg, Robert (2005). Glenn Yeffeth (ed.). "Introduction". War of the Worlds: Fresh Perspectives on the H.G. Wells Classic/ Edited by Glenn Yeffeth. BenBalla: 12. ISBN 1-932100-55-5.
48. ^ Edison's Conquest of Mars, "Foreword" by Robert Godwin, Apogee Books 2005
49. ^ Schwartz, Matthias; Weller, Nina; Winkel, Heike (2021). After Memory: World War II in Contemporary Eastern European Literatures. Walter de Gruyter. p. 179\. ISBN 978-3-110-71383-1. OL 33857461M.
50. ^ Brinkley, Alan (2010). "Chapter 23 – The Great Depression". The Unfinished Nation. McGraw-Hill Education. p. 615\. ISBN 978-0-07-338552-5.
51. ^ Pooley, Jefferson; Socolow, Michael J. (29 October 2013). "The Myth of the 'War of the Worlds' Panic". Slate. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
52. ^ Pooley, Jefferson; Socolow, Michael J. (30 October 2018). "When historians traffic in fake news. Unraveling the myth of "War of the Worlds."". Washington Post.
53. ^ "'The War of the Worlds'." British Board of Film Classification, 9 March 1953. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
54. ^ "War of the Worlds". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 17 July 2009. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
55. ^ "War of the Worlds". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
56. ^ Burrows, Alex (26 September 2020). "The story behind Jeff Wayne's The War Of The Worlds". Louder. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
57. ^ Jones, Josh (30 March 2017). "Hear the Prog-Rock Adaptation of H.G. Wells's War of the Worlds: The 1978 Rock Opera That Sold 15 Million Copies Worldwide". Open Culture. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
58. ^ "Dotdotdot | the world premier of Jeff Wayne's the War of the Worlds: The Immersive Experience".

## Sources

[edit]

* Batchelor, John (1985). H.G. Wells. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-27804-X. OL 2854973M.
* Coren, Michael (1993) The Invisible Man: The Life and Liberties of H.G. Wells's. Publisher: Random House of Canada. ISBN 0-394-22252-0
* Gosling, John. Waging the War of the Worlds. Jefferson, North Carolina, McFarland, 2009. Paperback, ISBN 0-7864-4105-4.
* Parrinder, Patrick (1997). H.G. Wells: The Critical Heritage. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-15910-4. OL 7484625M.
* —— (2000). Learning from Other Worlds: Estrangement, Cognition, and the Politics of Science Fiction and Utopia. Liverpool University Press. ISBN 0-8532-3574-0. OL 22421185M.
* Roth, Christopher F. (2005) "Ufology as Anthropology: Race, Extraterrestrials, and the Occult." In E.T. Culture: Anthropology in Outerspaces, ed. by Debbora Battaglia. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press.
* Yeffeth, Glenn (Editor) (2005) The War of the Worlds: Fresh Perspectives on the H. G. Wells Classic. Publisher: Benbella Books. ISBN 1-932100-55-5

## Further reading

[edit]

* Flynn, John L. (2005). War of the Worlds: From Wells to Spielberg. Galactic Books. ISBN 978-0-976-94000-5. OL 8589510M.
* Hughes, David Y.; Geduld, Harry M. (1993). A Critical Edition of The War of the Worlds: H.G. Wells's Scientific Romance. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-32853-5.

## External links

[edit]

English Wikisource has original text related to this article:

The War of the Worlds

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The War of the Worlds.

* The War of the Worlds Invasion, large resource containing comment and review on the history of The War of the Worlds
* The War of the Worlds at Standard Ebooks
*   * The War of the Worlds at Project Gutenberg.
* The War of the Worlds public domain audiobook at LibriVox
* Time Archives, a look at perceptions of The War of the Worlds over time
* Hundreds of cover images of the book's different editions, from 1898 to now

* v
* t
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H. G. Wells

Bibliography

Novels|

* The Time Machine (1895)
* The Wonderful Visit (1895)
* The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896)
* The Wheels of Chance (1896)
* The Invisible Man (1897)
* The War of the Worlds (1898)
* When The Sleeper Wakes (1899)
* Love and Mr Lewisham (1900)
* The First Men in the Moon (1901)
* The Sea Lady (1902)
* The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth (1904)
* Kipps (1905)
* A Modern Utopia (1905)
* In the Days of the Comet (1906)
* The War in the Air (1908)
* Tono-Bungay (1909)
* Ann Veronica (1909)
* The History of Mr Polly (1910)
* The Sleeper Awakes (1910)
* The New Machiavelli (1911)
* Marriage (1912)
* The Passionate Friends (1913)
* The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman (1914)
* The World Set Free (1914)
* Bealby (1915)
* Boon (1915)
* The Research Magnificent (1915)
* Mr. Britling Sees It Through (1916)
* The Soul of a Bishop (1917)
* Joan and Peter (1918)
* The Undying Fire (1919)
* The Secret Places of the Heart (1922)
* Men Like Gods (1923)
* The Dream (1924)
* Christina Alberta's Father (1925)
* The World of William Clissold (1926)
* Meanwhile (1927)
* Mr. Blettsworthy on Rampole Island (1928)
* The Autocracy of Mr. Parham (1930)
* The Bulpington of Blup (1932)
* The Shape of Things to Come (1933)
* The Croquet Player (1936)
* Brynhild (1937)
* Star Begotten (1937)
* The Camford Visitation (1937)
* Apropos of Dolores (1938)
* The Brothers (1938)
* The Holy Terror (1939)
* Babes in the Darkling Wood (1940)
* All Aboard for Ararat (1940)
* You Can't Be Too Careful (1941)

Nonfiction|

* Anticipations
* Certain Personal Matters
* Crux Ansata
* The Discovery of the Future
* An Englishman Looks at the World
* Experiment in Autobiography
* The Fate of Man
* First and Last Things
* Floor Games
* The Future in America
* God the Invisible King
* In the Fourth Year
* Little Wars
* Mankind in the Making
* Mind at the End of Its Tether
* Mr. Belloc Objects to "The Outline of History"
* The New America
* The New World Order
* New Worlds for Old
* The Open Conspiracy
* The Outline of History
* Russia in the Shadows
* The Science of Life
* A Short History of the World
* The Story of a Great Schoolmaster
* This Misery of Boots
* Travels of a Republican Radical in Search of Hot Water
* War and the Future
* The Way the World Is Going
* The Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind
* World Brain
* A Year of Prophesying

Collections|

* The Country of the Blind and Other Stories
* The Plattner Story and Others
* Select Conversations with an Uncle
* The Stolen Bacillus and Other Incidents
* Tales of Space and Time
* Twelve Stories and a Dream

Short stories|

* "Æpyornis Island"
* "The Argonauts of the Air"
* "The Beautiful Suit"
* "The Chronic Argonauts"
* "The Cone"
* "The Country of the Blind"
* "The Crystal Egg"
* "A Deal in Ostriches"
* "The Diamond Maker"
* "The Door in the Wall"
* "A Dream of Armageddon"
* "The Empire of the Ants"
* "In the Abyss"
* "The Land Ironclads"
* "Mr. Ledbetter's Vacation"
* "The Lord of the Dynamos"
* "The Man Who Could Work Miracles"
* "The New Accelerator"
* "The Pearl of Love"
* "The Plattner Story"
* "The Queer Story of Brownlow's Newspaper"
* "The Red Room"
* "The Sea Raiders"
* "The Star"
* "The Stolen Body"
* "A Story of the Days to Come"
* "A Story of the Stone Age"
* "Triumphs of a Taxidermist"
* "The Truth About Pyecraft"
* "A Vision of Judgment"

Screenplays|

* Things to Come (1936)
* The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1937)

Related|

* Political views
* G. P. Wells
* Anthony West (son)
* Joseph Wells (father)
* Simon Wells (great-grandson)
* H. G. Wells Society
* Lunar crater
* Time After Time (1979 film)

* v
* t
* e

H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds

* Related texts: "The Crystal Egg"
* Star Begotten

Concepts|

* Fighting machine
* HMS Thunder Child

Characters|

* Martians

Derivative
works|

| Novels|

* Fighters from Mars
* Edison's Conquest of Mars
* Sherlock Holmes's War of the Worlds
* The Space Machine
* New Millennium
* The Martian War
* The Massacre of Mankind

|

Radio|

* "The War of the Worlds" (1938)
* The War of the Worlds (1968)
* Invaders from Mars (2002)

Films|

* The War of the Worlds (1953)
* The Night That Panicked America (1975, television)
* The War of the Worlds: Next Century (1981)
* H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds (2005, Pendragon Pictures)
* H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds (2005, The Asylum)
* War of the Worlds (2005, Paramount)
* War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave (2008)
* Goliath (2012)
* The True Story (2012)

Comics|

* Killraven
* Superman: War of the Worlds
* The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume II
* Scarlet Traces
* H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds

Music|

* Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds
* "Forever Autumn"
* Highlights
* The New Generation

Television|

* "The Night America Trembled"
* The Great Martian War 1913–1917
* War of the Worlds (1988–1990, syndicated)
* The War of the Worlds (2019, BBC)
* War of the Worlds (2019–2022, Fox/Canal+)

Video games|

* War of the Worlds (1982)
* The War of the Worlds (1984)
* Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds
* 1998 video game
* 1999 video game

Short fiction|

* Global Dispatches
* "Mars: The Home Front"
* "To Mars and Providence"
* "The Soul Selects Her Own Society"
* Rainbow Mars

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* Germany
* Spain
* Israel

Other|

* MusicBrainz work

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