The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze that Captured Turn-of-the-Century America

by David Baron

A TIME BEST BOOK OF 2025: "A completely true look at America’s infatuation with aliens at the turn of the 20th century that feels like it could be science fiction . . . The Martians is not only a captivating look at recent history, but also a poignant cautionary tale, offering hard-to-ignore parallels between the alien enthusiasts of the Gilded Age and the conspiracy theorists of today."



A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

Longlisted for the 2025 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Nonfiction

Named one of the Best Books of the Year by Science News, Boston Globe, Library Journal, Reactor, Bookreporter, PopMatters, Colorado Public Radio, and the Chicago Public Library

New York Times Book Review • Editors' Choice

Literary Hub • 10 Best-Reviewed Nonfiction Books of 2025

The Information • 20 Great Books to Read Over the Holidays 2025

Christian Science Monitor • 10 Best Books of August

A Westword holiday book recommendation



Long before NASA began contemplating a visit to our neighboring world, a turn-of-the-century Mars craze invaded the public’s imagination, here thrillingly retold in David Baron’s The Martians.


“There is Life on the Planet Mars” —New York Times, December 9, 1906



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.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Science, Astronomy, Space, Audiobook, American History

333 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 26, 2025

About the author

David Baron is an award-winning journalist and author who writes about science, nature, and the American West. Formerly a science correspondent for NPR and science editor for the public radio program The World, he has also written for The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Scientific American, and other publications. While conducting research for his latest book, THE MARTIANS, he served as the Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology, Exploration, and Scientific Innovation. David is an avid eclipse chaser, and his TED Talk on the subject has been viewed more than 2 million times. An affiliate of the University of Colorado’s Center for Environmental Journalism, he lives in Boulder.

Reviews

[Jill H.]

Crazes..............they seem to come and go and this book takes on one of the most widespread and longest lasting. It swept like wildfire across many countries but seemed most prevalent in the United States. It divided people of all classes and professions and in the process ruined the reputations of many. It began right before the turn of the 20th century when astronomy was becoming more sophisticated and gazing at Earth's closest neighboring planet, Mars, was popular. Author H.G. Wells published The War of the World which was a huge success and the craze began.

Of course, the subject of this fascinating book is the belief in the "canals" of Mars and the presence of life on the Red Planet. One individual (who had no scientific training), Percy Lowelll, a wealthy Bostonian, became obsessed with this subject, built his own planetarium, and "discovered" the supposed canals. This led him to put forth the theory that only intelligent beings could have built these canals. The "yellow journalists (Pulitzer and Hearst) picked up this theory and milked it for all it was worth. with blazing front page headlines such as "Life On Mars Discovered". Lowell was either loved or hated for his theory and astronomers began attempting to debunk it.

What a story this is...........beautifully written, great source material, and full of information that will keep the reader interested from page one. There is just too much to put in a review, so I highly recommend this book. It is a fun read but also somewhat poignant.

[Blaine DeSantis]

Just a superb book about the history of Martians, the observations of the planet. The book focuses mainly on US pseudo astronomer Percival Lowell and his mapping of the Red Planet. Thanks to Lowell generations grew up thinking there were Canals on the planet, which in turn led to the idea that there were human like creatures who inhabited Mars, and that the canals were used to grow vegetation to feed the Martians, Lowell spend years observing the planet, and Tesla also got involved at one point in time trying to contact the planet. It is wonderfully researched and we get into the "yellow press", the building of bigger and better telescopes, H.G. Wells and his War of the Worlds book and how it was adapted for readers in New York & Boston when it came out in the 1890's. Yes, a true tour de force on our obsession with Mars, Martians, etc. This one is a fast read and one that is for me a true 5*****!!!

[Jillian B]

Let’s get this out of the way: this book is an objectively great work of historical science journalism. The author dives deep into the forgotten Martian craze of the early 20th century, when many in the scientific community truly believed there was evidence of life on Mars. There were some super interesting tidbits in here, and the topic is worthy of this level of exploration. So why the three-star rating? It’s purely a me thing. I overestimated how interested I was in this topic, and probably would have had a better time with an article or podcast episode than with a proper deep dive like this one. I think real history buffs will love this!

[Ashton Ahart]

The Martians is a lyrical account of the Mars craze that sweeped the turn of the 20th century. From the perspectives of scientists, engineers, and visionaries with plenty of sensationalized journalism mixed in, this book provides an interesting lens into Earth's closest neighbor and the obsession that came from it.

[Al]

I loved the hook of this book from the start but what a fun book this was. I somewhat expected it to be about Science Fiction and HG Wells but it isn’t really that, though pop culture is a side player.

For the most part, the major player is Percval Lowell and the other astronomers of the day. It was Lowell who took up in the 1890s the study of Mars that began in earnest a couple of decades earlier in Italy and France. These astronomers saw “canals” on Mars. Lowell made it his life’s work. As he did so, Americans and the rest of the world went crazy about the idea of Martians and life on Mars.

Lowell saw these canals as proof of life on Mars, and the existence of a Martian culture that irrigated water from their melting poles. The scientific community fell into a debate of canalists vs anti-canalists with Lowell’s theory leading the way. Each time, Mars would come close to Earth, Lowell and others with increasingly better technology would look to see if the proof was visible.

Meanwhile, Nikola Tesla was convinced that given Marconi’s new technology that he could communicate with Mars. This is a fascinating side story as well with the dreamer Tesla.

Around 1909, technology had improved to the point that Lowell’s detractors had the proof they needs to show these were not the purported canals and cities Lowell said they were. Lowell never abandoned his theory though.

This is such a fascinating story- one of those bits of history and pop culture that doesn’t often get reported. We see technology grow in leaps and bounds with the Wright Brothers entering the scene by the end of the book.

It’s no surprise that this phenomenon captured the American imagination. I know that I have always loved the childish dream of a Martian world that often inhabits early science fiction.

[Aljoša Harlamov]

Super kratkočasna in tudi zabavna knjiga o tem, kako so se "lažne novice" širile pred socialnimi omrežji. V središču zgodbe je ljubiteljski astronom in razvpitež Percival Lowell, ki je populariziral idejo, da so na Marsu kanali, ki so jih zgradila inteligentna bitja. Njegove teorije, ki so bile sicer najbrž bolj posledica znanstvene napake in ozkoglednosti, pa tudi Lowellove domišljavosti in trme, kot pa namerne prevare, je nato pograbilo pravkar nastajajoče rumeno časopisje in še dodatno senzacionaliziralo.
Zlasti Američani so postali nori na Mars in začeli celo vlagati znanje in denar v poskuse stika z Marsovci. Mars je prodrl tako v komične stripe kot v reklame (podjetje, ki je proizvajalo milo, je recimo naredilo oglas, po katerem bi bilo prvo sporočilo Marsovcev, če bi končno uspeli navezati stik z njimi, "pošljite nam Pears' Soap"), pa tudi v kolektivno nezavedno (pojavljali so se ljudje, ki so trdili, da so navezali stik, ali pa kar, da so sami Marsovci).
Knjiga natančno popiše 40 let utrjevanja, množične histerije in zelo počasno, potrpežljivo ovržbo ideje, ko so končno prevladali resni znanstveniki z resnejšimi znanstvenimi postopki. Baron vse skupaj opisuje izredno slikovito in tekoče, tudi zabavno, z izseki iz takratnih časopisnih novic, anekdotami in drugimi povezavami, pa tudi z obsežnim raziskovanjem pisemske in ostale zapuščine. Seveda se v zgodbi pojavijo še Nikola Tesla, nič manj razvpit od Lowella, in H. G. Wells.
Mogoče celi zgodbi manjka predvsem to, da bi avtor uzavestil tudi razredno plat zgodbe. Lowell je bil nenazadnje pripadnik brezdelne elite, zelo povezan in premožen, ki si je lahko privoščil ukvarjanje z vesoljem, predvsem pa je zlahka prišel do medijev, ki so mu še bolj zlahka verjeli, saj je bil menda uspešen podjetnik in svetovljan. Tu se primerjave z Elonom Muskom, ki je zadnje desetletje polnil novice z grandioznimi idejami o kolonizaciji Marsa, ne da bi kdo zastavil kakšno resno vprašanje, odpirajo kar same od sebe. Lowell tako ni populariziral samo raziskovanja vesolja, temveč tudi posejal že idejo o zasebni iniciativi pri tem.

[Peter Tillman]

WSJ review: https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/book...
(Paywalled. As always, I'm happy to email a copy to non-subscribers)
Excerpt:
"Lowell’s depictions of Martian life were pure fantasy, but they appealed to the public. ...
Lowell’s wild conjectures inspired the rocket scientist Robert H. Goddard, the science-fiction pioneer Hugo Gernsback and the astronomer Carl Sagan. Ray Bradbury, whose books include “The Martian Chronicles” (1950), paid homage to the likes of Lowell in a 1971 interview: “I think it’s part of the nature of man to start with romance and build to a reality. There’s hardly a scientist or an astronaut I’ve met who wasn’t beholden to some romantic before him who led him to doing something in life.”

I plan to take a look, when our libraries get a copy.

[Logan Kedzie]

This book is a history of what the author dubs the Mars craze. For about two decades starting just before the 20th Century, Mars was treated as inhabited. This is due in part (but not in whole) to Schiaparelli's observations, the story of which is better known than the general mania that followed.

For those years, the topic of the intelligent life on Mars was treated as conventional wisdom, and Mars and martians (once it was decided on what to call them) was treated both as accepted scientific marvel of the era and cultural product, spawning comics, plays, jokes, and other material.

At the center of this fad is Percival Lowell, amateur anthropologist turned amateur astronomer, with two streams of textile wealth (pay no attention to those picking the cotton) in his family to fund his adventures in founding astronomic institutions and explorations.

...except that it was a consensus that also was not. There never was as much of a scientific agreement with Lowell as to his observations, nor is it Lowell as the sort of lonely mis-translator that the story gets reduced to, as there were other supporters, both scientific and wackadoodle, seeing an inhabited Mars. So it is a weird situation: there is consensus without consensus.

The book reads much as a biography of Lowell, with the author injecting his own personal experiences and the tale of his investigation along the way. This does not work. To address the latter, the conclusion of the book focuses on the long tail of this enthusiasm and its positive effects in inspiring many different people towards art, science, and engineering. This journalism with internal narrativecan work, but here it does not do anything. It is not bad; it is not good.

As to the former, a focus on Lowell seems to miss the relevance of the cultural history. Real history refutes narrative, usually, so it is understandable that the culture's turn away from Lowell is not necessarily a thing of meaning, but such an understanding is not ever proposed or considered. There is a scholar who seems to come in with the last word, but I did not understand why he had the last word.

I am frustrated by it. The history is neat in its revelation of a cultural shift then reversal that we still see the legacy of each time aliens have antenna. But this is a highly relevant moment for the contemporary world. Bad science won out, then lost. How that happened is interesting as a cultural study but also as a practical matter of how to fight the anti-science perspective of the current U.S. administration. Instead, the book is more interested in personality.

The press was deeply convinced of this rightness of Martian civilization, then as quickly convinced of the silliness of it. That is the book I wanted to read. Instead, it serves up a sort of consolation prize, that we at least get some good ideas coming from the bad ones. I do not buy that.

Some sort of question of the NTD to RFK ratio...well, it is not silly, but it is dismissable as not a useful quantification. But I think that a lot got left on the table here in an attempt to understand the way that culture processes science information, and what this particularly outsized event might be able to tell us about that. And while I know that I cannot fault a book for what it is not, the fact that the argument could correlate to something like sure, COVID denial killed a lot of people in '20, and lead to the plague decade, but it got a lot of people into medicine, and someone made some neat art tracing measles rash, is, maybe, not the sort of thing that I can get too excited about.

Lots of great information, but I want a more serious study of the process of the cultural event.

[Sarah Jensen]

Book Review: The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze that Captured Turn-of-the-Century America by David Baron

David Baron’s The Martians is a captivating excavation of a forgotten cultural moment when America collectively hallucinated intelligent life on Mars—and in doing so, revealed more about human nature than extraterrestrial reality. As a woman and scholar of science communication, I was struck by how Baron frames this historical episode not as mere pseudoscientific folly, but as a lens for examining societal anxieties, class dynamics, and the seductive power of narrative. The book’s central figure, Percival Lowell—the aristocratic astronomer whose “canal” theories ignited Mars mania—emerges as a tragic emblem of how privilege can amplify speculative ideas, while the public’s fervent embrace of Martians (from Broadway shows to Nikola Tesla’s radio claims) exposes our timeless hunger for cosmic connection.

What resonated most deeply was Baron’s nuanced portrayal of gendered skepticism in the scientific backlash. While male critics like Alfred Russel Wallace dismantled Lowell’s theories with empirical rigor, Baron subtly highlights how women astronomers (like Williamina Fleming) were simultaneously making groundbreaking discoveries yet excluded from the Mars discourse—a tension I wished he’d explored further. The chapters detailing Lowell’s Atacama expedition and its sensationalized “proof” of canals evoked visceral frustration; I found myself aching for the marginalized voices (Indigenous Chileans, female scientists) sidelined in this Eurocentric quest. Baron’s prose, however, is masterful—equal parts wry and empathetic, transforming historical figures into flawed, fully human characters.

Structurally, the book occasionally struggles to balance its dual aims: a biography of Lowell and a cultural history of Mars mania. The middle sections linger on technical debates about telescopic optics, which, while academically rigorous, dilute the emotional momentum. A deeper analysis of how race and imperialism shaped Martian fantasies (e.g., the utopian society trope echoing colonial myths) would have strengthened Baron’s critique of projection as a cultural reflex. Still, his closing meditation on modern Mars colonization dreams—and their eerie parallels to Lowell’s era—left me chilled with recognition.

Strengths:

-Cultural Archaeology: Brilliantly contextualizes Mars mania within Gilded Age anxieties and scientific theater.
-Narrative Craft: Baron’s journalistic flair turns complex astronomy into page-turning drama.
-Provocative Parallels: Draws urgent lines between past delusions and present-day space rhetoric.

Critiques:

-Intersectional Gaps: Underdeveloped analysis of how gender/race shaped participation in and resistance to Mars narratives.
-Pacing Issues: Technical digressions disrupt the thematic flow in later chapters.

Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5) – A dazzling but imperfect work that illuminates how our cosmic fantasies reveal earthly biases.

Thank you to W. W. Norton and Edelweiss for providing a free advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Final Thought: Baron’s greatest achievement is showing how Mars has always been a Rorschach test. As we today dream of terraforming it, The Martians warns: beware the stories we tell about red planets—they’re usually about us.

[Beth Given]

In the 1890s, the wealthy Percival Lowell turned his attention to astronomy and changed the public perception of the planet Mars for decades to come. Untrained in the sciences, Lowell's money and charisma nevertheless brought him attention from the scientific community and the general population; he posited that the "canals" he claimed to see on the red planet through his telescope were evidence of intelligent life on Mars. While many scientists scoffed, and while Lowell's claims would eventually be debunked, the Martian craze would spark the imagination of writers like H.G. Wells and ignite the passion of space exploration throughout the twentieth century.

This book was really fascinating! I enjoyed this author's book about the 1878 solar eclipse and this one is written in a similar vein: a melding of history and astronomy, woven together in a compelling narrative. I think I might have followed this a little better if I'd read the book (there were enough unfamiliar people and events that it wasn't the easiest to follow on audio), but audio is the way I get through books lately; this was still definitely worth listening to.

I was captivated by the idea of this pseudo-scientist being led by confirmation bias to the conclusions he wanted (it rings eerily true of current events; I was reminded of the way ivermectin was the miracle cure for COVID or the MAHA push to tie autism to vaccines or Tylenol). But just as I was ready to dismiss Lowell as a blight on scientific history, the author convinced me in the epilogue that maybe a little bit of imagination in the sciences isn't all bad; maybe it inspires a future generation of scientists.

At any rate, I appreciated learning the history behind the man behind the Lowell Observatory -- I've been there!

I know that everyone out there has already read The Martian, but maybe it's time to also pick up The Martians!

[Conor]

"The Martians" offers an engaging look into the early 20th-century obsession with the Red Planet, though its focus shifts unexpectedly. What begins as a cultural study of American fascination with Mars eventually evolves into a pseudo-biography of Martian astronomers like Percival Lowell, Nikola Tesla, and Giovanni Schiaparelli. While the author acknowledges this pivot in the epilogue, the transition feels a bit disjointed. However, as an educator, I found the historical context invaluable. It’s a quick, enjoyable read that serves as a fantastic case study on how confirmation bias can turn speculative science into popular propaganda.

[Kadin]

Before reading I knew about the Martian "canal" theory, but I had no idea just how much of a Mars-mania that it produced during this time period. Baron's book is a compelling read into the scientific and cultural history of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The author doesn't just get into why people believed what they did about Mars and potential intelligent Martian life, he dives into the psychological and cultural reasons for why they wanted to believe it. Overall, The Martians is an entertaining and informative read about a phenomenon that I was previously ignorant of.

[Susan Morris]

What a crazy story! I had no idea that in the years around 1900, many folks were convinced that Martians existed, led by the persuasive Percival Lowell. And a strong nonfiction book like this one leads me to add many more books to my TBR! Looking forward to meeting the author & getting this book autographed at the National Book Festival.

[Saima Iqbal]

an easy read, albeit occasionally florid. more so a biography of percival lowell, who pushed the theory that mars was inhabitable to the spotlight. kind of a tragic tale! vivid details from the archive b the author could exercise better discretion. not something that’ll stick w me

[Becky Lockwood]

If you ever wondered why so many people thought the broadcast of War of the Worlds was real, read this and you will understand. A riveting must-read!

[Horror Nerd]

This is a sprawling narrative (covering decades and involving such intriguing people as H.G. Wells & Nikola Tesla!) focused on how the bold claims of one Percival Lowell (that Mars held intelligent life), spread so far and wide in popular culture. It was fascinating to read about this hoax, and see just how many people got drawn into the argument. This all might have happened ages ago, but this 'Martian myth' read as very modern.
The conclusion of the book was a little more hopeful than the overall narrative, showing that despite Lowell's false claims, his work DID inspire others in the future to study & explore Mars.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book.

[Davi Kladakis]

If you are in need of a book that will put you to sleep look no further.

[Beth Kanarek]

This was a great read! The author did a phenomenal job with the storytelling for the life of Percival Lowell. I had never heard of Percival Lowell before but now I want to watch a whole biopic on him. It’s an Oscar winning performance just waiting to happen.

It was fascinating to learn how he convinced himself and some of the general public that there was an advanced civilization on mars building massive canals. He pretty much created a religion behind the idea of Martians and it went on to influence some of the most iconic science fiction writers of the 20th century.

I’m coincidentally heading to Arizona this summer and will definitely be making a stop at the Lowell Observatory. I’m so interested to find out how much information their museum will have on their founder’s Mars canal delusions.

[Greg Hicks]

Interesting story, but disappointed by the audio narration. The book focuses heavily on Percival Lowell’s research on Mars and everyone’s fascination with the potential of Martian life. However, more interesting is the underlying story of the power of wanting to believe something so badly that it leads to closed mindedness even in the face of scientific evidence.

[K.C.]

This was a fun look back at the evolving landscape of extraterrestrial beliefs. My major takeaway was a reminder that science does not always evolve linearly, but in fits and starts and some backpedaling.


It is interesting to see how cultural mindsets can impact the interpretation of scientific data, and often even the questions and theories being tested. The dawn of the era of marketing and advertising further stoked interest. It was thought-provoking to reflect upon how the lens through which Americans were likely filtered through more terrestrial but unfamiliar Korean landscapes and Algerian topography, etc. There is a sadly recurring theme about human degradation that is touched upon, with the "American" craze and beliefs being influenced by regressive opinions about fellow earthlings.

[Melisa]

An interesting and indepth telling of a forgotten time in history. I was intrigued by the title and found the tale of passion and hubris held my attention in a surprising way. Looking back at the end on the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, we can feel like smarter beings. Yet, it is only through the innovations and scientific imagings of the people before us that we came to this point. The many scientific accomplishments and famous scientific adventurers woven into the true tales in this book are astounding. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the history of astronomy, or in the history of the late 19th/ early 20th century.

[Tim]

I have had a tough time reading nonfiction for a while. I was beginning to think it was somehow my fault as if I no longer had the capacity to understand such books. However, having read David Baron's excellent work, I now realize that my recent forays into nonfiction were, most likely, poorly written works about uninteresting topics. I devoured this book in a couple of days and understood everything it had to offer due to its fascinating thesis and well-written prose. I am now looking forward to discovering and reading new works of nonfiction while remembering that some books are just better than others.

[Jamison]

A fantastic micro history about how the idea of Martian life flourished in America. Very hard to put down every time I had to do so. If you are at all interested in how we came to fall in love with the idea of alien on other planets, I very much recommend this title.

[Jessica Lozoya]

I love the subject matter: aliens, space, the birth of sci-fi (the xenophobia and othering of people at the core), yellow journalism, confirmation bias, the hope for something grand out there! Truly, there’s a lot of potential in this book and a lot of interesting concepts that could have benefitted from a stronger stance from the author. As it stands, he muddles through the canal debate with an awkward writing style and shies away from digging further into the societal backdrop that’s being established in the turn of the century that’s still playing out 120 years later.

[Tim]

A somewhat interesting read, although it feels a bit padded for length in some places. The author’s insistence on adding himself to the narrative with numerous references to “I did this” or “I went to this place and saw…” feels amateurish and takes the reader out of the world of the story.

[Steve Sargent]

Interesting look at the telescopic fascination with Mars in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Having visited Lowell’s observatory in Arizona, this book sheds more light for me on his notable work and his many eccentricities.

[PATCHES]

So interesting!

[Anna Catherine]

I'm realizing I just don't really care about turn of the century America that much...

[Maduck831]

enjoyed it.

Part One • Century’s End • 1876–1900
Highlight(aqua) - Chapter 1: Evolution 1876–1891 > Page 16 · Location 268
“Sir,” read a note that arrived from Theodore Roosevelt. “It is with great pleasure I inform you that your conduct has been such as only a mean-spirited and cowardly blackguard could be guilty of.”
Highlight(aqua) - Chapter 1: Evolution 1876–1891 > Page 19 · Location 326
On this night, the lights announced a comforting “all is well” through the silence of the dark.
Highlight(aqua) - Chapter 2: The French Philosopher > Page 32 · Location 531
The Lick Observatory was the most expensive and modern facility of its kind.
Highlight(aqua) - Chapter 4: Mars Hill > Page 46 · Location 796
Schiaparelli called his Mars a jumble of “mythical and poetic geography.” For Lowell, gazing through a telescope, it must have felt like visiting a land from a fairy tale and discovering that the fables had all been true. Lowell embarked
Highlight(aqua) - Chapter 4: Mars Hill > Page 47 · Location 809
mysteries. For the moment, as
Highlight(aqua) - Chapter 5: Lost World > Page 61 · Location 1082
Therefore, he asserted, if the planet possessed inhabitants, they had but one option to survive: “Irrigation, and upon as vast a scale as possible, must be the all-engrossing Martian pursuit.”
Highlight(aqua) - Chapter 5: Lost World > Page 65 · Location 1161
“My lectures are coming out in the May, June, July and August Atlantics,” Lowell announced. Even before The Atlantic Monthly published its May issue, the magazine had begun promoting the series so heavily that when the issue hit newsstands, “the entire first edition was exhausted in a few days,” Lilian Whiting
Highlight(aqua) - Chapter 5: Lost World > Page 68 · Location 1209
sumptuously bound in scarlet and gold,” as Lilian Whiting put it—adorned with a simple, one-word title: Mars. It was Lowell’s latest, comprising an expanded text of his Lowell Institute lectures, and it arrived to favorable reviews.
Highlight(aqua) - Chapter 6: Allies and Adversaries > Page 69 · Location 1234
The Greek muse of astronomy, Urania, smiled down from a decorative plate above the buffet, while in Flammarion’s study shelves of books, heaps of scientific reports, and two small telescopes offered a sense of scholarly clutter.
Highlight(aqua) - Chapter 6: Allies and Adversaries > Page 77 · Location 1364
Struggling with what today would likely be diagnosed as depression, Lowell had come down with a condition widely known then as neurasthenia, whose sufferers complained of sleeplessness, hopelessness, crippling anxiety, and an inability to focus.
Highlight(aqua) - Chapter 7: War Stories > Page 88 · Location 1539
Through the spring and summer of 1898, the United States battled Spain across the hemispheres in what would come to be known as the Spanish–American War (though more than one newspaper at the time called it “McKinley’s War of the Worlds”).
Highlight(aqua) - Chapter 7: War Stories > Page 88 · Location 1543
A war that had begun for ostensibly humanitarian reasons—yet was propelled, as well, by strategic interests—transformed America from a democracy that had been born out of its own war of independence into an imperial power. The nation now controlled not only Cuba but also Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.
Highlight(aqua) - Chapter 8: Wireless > Page 97 · Location 1713
She had befriended the reclusive older sister, Emily, whose seemingly strange poetry she admired, and after Emily Dickinson died in 1886, it was Mabel Todd who first transcribed, assembled, and published the poems to world acclaim.
Highlight(aqua) - Chapter 8: Wireless > Page 100 · Location 1771
Meanwhile other, more subdued celebrations took place in churches, theaters, and civic halls. These solemn “watch meetings,” held as fundraisers for the American Red Cross, featured patriotic music, speeches, and—the highlight—the recitation of letters from world luminaries who had been asked to reflect on the progress of the last century and the promise of the next.
• Part Two • A New Civilization • 1901–1907
Highlight(aqua) - Chapter 9: Messengers > Page 112 · Location 1929
Laughter and applause resonated within the confines of New York’s Garrick Theatre, its elegant interior ornamented with plasterwork and stained glass, for this was the Broadway opening of A Message from Mars, a stage comedy that had transferred from London.
Highlight(aqua) - Chapter 10: “Small Boy Theory” > Page 119 · Location 2055
The true author was Camille Flammarion, who in his younger days hid behind a pseudonym when writing on non-astronomical matters to avoid diluting his brand.
Highlight(aqua) - Chapter 10: “Small Boy Theory” > Page 123 · Location 2124
It could and did, representing a quantum leap in the distance traversed by radio waves.
Highlight(aqua) - Chapter 10: “Small Boy Theory” > Page 129 · Location 2223
We are prone to see biases in others yet are blind to those same weaknesses in ourselves.
Highlight(aqua) - Chapter 11: The Martians of Earth > Page 138 · Location 2358
In other words, if gravity did not propel the water, then it must be pumped. If pumped, then Mars has technology. If technology, then there is intelligence on the planet—a Martian civilization.
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The Eastman Kodak Company had recently introduced the one-dollar Brownie, which made taking snapshots as easy as pressing a button and shipping the entire unit—film and all—to Rochester, New York, for processing.
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In broad concept, he was imagining a network of smartphones.
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To this layperson, and to many in 1905, the Mars photographs were indecipherable inkblots. It was therefore left to experts to decode them.
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Hunter-gatherers from Central Africa posed half-naked before huts woven from sticks and leaves. Nearby, where human skulls adorned a bamboo fence, loinclothed tribesmen from the Philippines feasted on dogmeat.
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No such arrangement was struck, however, and the people of Arizona, unwilling to share power with the people of New Mexico, rejected joint statehood.
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New Yorkers, meanwhile, were divided by a notorious controversy over race. One of the Indigenous tribesmen who had originally come to America for the St. Louis World’s Fair was now, due to an unsettling sequence of events, living at the Bronx Zoo, where he had been brazenly placed in the primate house, behind a sign that read the african pigmy.
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So instead of being the Planet of War he should be rechristened the Planet of Peace.”
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As one newspaper teased, reflecting a widely shared sentiment: “Before we dig any farther on that canal it might be well to have Mr. Tesla wire the government of Mars and ascertain just how they did it up there without bankrupting the planet.”
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An elated Percival Lowell translated the message and notified the world. “The results have proved all that could be wished,” he wired The New York Times. “Cables have been received stating that both canals and oases have already been photographed there.”
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“Your despatches cause our hair to stand on end and our voices to stick in our throats.” Jubilant, Lowell placed for himself another express order from Los Angeles: one case of Mumm’s Extra Dry Champagne.
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This hidebound periodical, a newspaper for the sober and phlegmatic, concluded instead that the most extraordinary development of 1907 had been “the proof afforded by the astronomical observations of the year that conscious, intelligent human life exists upon the planet Mars.”
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Chile’s nitrate industry, once so dominant here, died long ago after chemists in Germany devised a more efficient method for producing fertilizer and explosives, from nitrogen in the atmosphere.
• Part Three • The Earthlings Respond • 1908–1916
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“Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds,” the Scottish journalist and author Charles Mackay wrote in 1841 in his classic study of mass hysteria, Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions.
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The public embraced the enterprise because it promised salvation from suffering, not because of a bad actor’s purposeful deception.
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The science of astronomy, which in recent centuries had undermined traditional notions of religion, now seemed poised to restore some of what it had destroyed by cracking the most existential riddles. Lowell and his acolytes had created Martians that were more than angels; they had become stand-ins for God.
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What is more, the Earth at that time would present its nightside to Mars, so any daytime signals using solar mirrors or black cloth in a white desert would be hidden from view until the Earth moved along in its orbit, farther from Mars.
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“I suppose you and the Professor will be off to Mars, soon, and I hasten to try to catch you before your aero-car is off in space,” a delighted Lilian Whiting wrote Mabel Loomis Todd. “What wonderful times we are living in! Every day is a new revelation.”
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He has not been at the pole,” Peary cautioned the press. “He has simply handed the public a gold brick”—a swindle, in the slang of the era.
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“Mars has been imposing on the credulity of a trustful world,” the Los Angeles Herald editorialized on the final day of what had been a remarkable year. “It does not matter who found the pole. Of one scientific fact there can be no question, and that is, there are no canals on Mars.”
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Amy Lowell lamented: Toll the bells in the steeples left standing. Half-mast The flags which meant order, for order is past. Take the dust of the streets and sprinkle your head, The civilization we’ve worked for is dead.
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Four centuries ago, the English philosopher Francis Bacon described the psychological tendency known today as confirmation bias. “The human understanding when it has once adopted an opinion . . . draws all things else to support and agree with it,” he explained, while everything to the contrary “it either neglects and despises, or else by some distinction sets aside and rejects.”
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“But it is certain that he aroused the public interest in the heavens and drew attention to the mysteries of life, widening the public vision, and deepening the sense of the vastness of the universe. Who calls that wasted labor?”
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enlarged our conception of what
Epilogue: Children of Mars
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He learned a lesson from the encounter: Even in science, one should leave room for hope and imagination. “It was a compliment to astronomy that that child should have been reading about Mars,” Serviss concluded. “That dream of hers was a thing to be encouraged instead of being destroyed.”
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trailblazing editor now widely revered as the “father of science fiction,” Gernsback remains memorialized in the annual sci-fi literature awards named in his honor, the Hugos.
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Author Edgar Rice Burroughs spun the tale in such muscular prose that he fired the imagination of millions of adolescent boys and not a few girls.
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Ray Bradbury, whose literary stardom launched with The Martian Chronicles, agreed: “I think it’s part of the nature of man to start with romance and build to a reality. There’s hardly a scientist or an astronaut I’ve met who wasn’t beholden to some romantic before him who led him to doing something in life.”
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“Even if all Lowell’s conclusions about Mars, including the existence of the fabled canals, turned out to be bankrupt,” Sagan wrote forgivingly, “his depiction of the planet had at least this virtue: it aroused generations of eight-year-olds, myself among them, to consider the exploration of the planets as a real possibility, to wonder if we ourselves might one day voyage to Mars.”
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Most scientists now reject that interpretation, but the Antarctic find bolstered an even more radical idea—that if life did originate on Mars, it may have seeded life on Earth by just such an interplanetary exchange of rocks. In other words, we may all be of Martian birth deep in our evolutionary past.
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A century ago, such visions of humanity perfected on Mars may have been fables, but dreams are more than delusions. They expose our deep-set longings, our hungers unmet. Today’s Martians are still what they were in Lowell’s time: the embodiment of hope for a better world—if not on Earth, then not so far away, on the next planet outward from the sun.

[April Davis]

This was such a cool read! I'll definitely be recommending this and reading it again.