The War of the Worlds

“This isn’t a war,” said the artilleryman. “It never was a war, any more than there’s war between man and ants.”

H.G. Wells needs no introduction and even less his “War of the Worlds”. It is not only one of the greatest works of (science-) fiction but also created a huge genre in itself. Think about Martians invading Earth? Or mindless creatures exterminating humans like ants? It all came from Wells. He established the prototype in this novel.

“The War of the Worlds” was published in 1897 but it became extremely famous by the help of another Welles, Orson, some 40 years after. In 1938 he made an adaptation for radio which freaked up people as they considered it to be real news on the radio and prepared themselves for war. Such was the power of radio in those days. You can find the entire radio broadcast on Youtube. But start with the book!