The War of the Worlds
Author(s): H.G. Wells
"No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's..." So begins H. G. Wells' classic novel in which Martian lifeforms take over planet Earth. As the Martians emerge, they construct giant killing machines - armed with heatrays - that are impervious to attack. Advancing upon London they destroy everything in their path. Everything, except the few humans they collect in metal traps. Victorian England is a place in which the steam engine is state-of-the-art technology and powered flight is just a dream. Mankind is helpless against the killing machines from Mars, and soon the survivors are left living in a new stone age. Includes the original Warwick Goble illustrations.
General Information
- :
- : Penguin UK
- : Penguin (General UK)
- : 149.0
- : 01 September 2018
- : books
Other Specifications
- : H.G. Wells
- : Paperback
- : English
- : 823.912
- : 208
More About The Product
A beautiful new edition of the science-fiction classic, soon to be a major BBC drama.
A true classic that has pointed the way not just for science-fiction writers, but for how we as a civilisation might think of ourselves * Guardian * The War of the Worlds remains the barometer by which all extra-terrestrial invasions are measured, from V to Independence Day to Arrival * Irish Times * The classic tale of alien invasion, and still the best * The Times * Wells occupies an honoured place in science fiction -- Kingsley Amis A born story-teller -- J.B. Priestly Wells is the Shakespeare of science fiction * Brian Aldiss *
H.G. Wells was a professional writer and journalist who published more than a hundred books, including pioneering science fiction novels, histories, essays and programmes for world regeneration. He was a founding member of numerous movements including Liberty and PEN International - the world's oldest human rights organization - and his Rights of Man laid the groundwork for the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Wells' controversial and progressive views on equality and the shape of a truly developed nation remain directly relevant to our world today. He was, in Bertrand Russell's words, 'an important liberator of thought and action'.