The War of the Worlds

The chilling novel depicting a Martian invasion of London in the nineteenth century—a science fiction classic for all time.

In 1898, H.G. Wells published The War of the Worlds, a work that has made the deepest impression on the public consciousness of any science fiction novel. His chilling account of an invasion of Earth from outer space by intelligent, ruthless aliens was made remarkably effective in its exquisitely detailed account of the invaders’ progress through the city of London, the capital of the world’s most powerful nation at the end of the nineteenth century. Many readers could imagine the familiar neighborhoods and landscapes hideously transformed as a result of the Martian invasion, making the impact of the novel even more powerful and immediate.

Wells’s keen awareness of the preciousness of life on Earth and the fragility of our place in the universe makes The War of the Worlds just as forceful and relevant today as it was when it was first published more than 100 years ago.