H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds, the first story to speculate about the consequences of aliens (from Mars) with superior technology landing on earth, is one of the most influential science fiction books ever written. The novel is both a thrilling narrative and an elaboration of Wells's socio-political thought on the subjects of imperialism, humankind's treatment of other animals, and unquestioning faith in military technology and the continuation of the human species.

This edition's appendices include other related writings by Wells; selected correspondence; contemporary reviews; excerpts from works that influenced the novel and from contemporary invasion narratives; and photographs of examples of Victorian military technology.

About the Author
Martin A. Danahay is a Professor of English at Brock University. He is the author of A Community of One: Masculine Autobiography and Autonomy in Nineteenth-Century Britain (SUNY Press, 1994), and the editor of the Broadview Edition of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1999).

Reviews

"Martin Danahay's edition shows the extent to which The War of the Worlds draws on the biological and astronomical theories, political ideologies, and military technology of its time. Readers who want to appreciate this greatest of all alien narratives in its original Victorian context cannot do better than to consult this edition." - Patrick Parrinder, University of Reading

"One reads this edition with great pleasure. The novel is lightly and intelligently annotated, making concise sense of all the local allusions that make this remarkable fantasy so realistic. The appendices, which reprint portions of articles from the 1890s, suggest an intellectual context for the work and are often interesting in themselves, especially Percival Lowell's meditation on how some form of life might develop on Mars. The pictures of the various guns, cannons, ships, and other machinery mentioned in the novel give a wonderful sense of the scale of the war." - John Huntington, University of Illinois at Chicago

Book Information
ISBN 9781551113531
Author H. G. Wells
Format Paperback
Page Count 268
Imprint Broadview Press Ltd
Publisher Broadview Press Ltd
Weight(grams) 310g
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 140mm * 13mm