The War of the Worlds

H. G. Wells (1866-1946)

Original en 59738 words First published 1898 United Kingdom

H. G. Wells's 1898 invasion classic, the original alien-invasion novel. Martians, fleeing their dying planet, land in the Surrey countryside — and their machines rise on articulated legs, armed with heat-rays and poison gas, to walk on London. Told with documentary realism through one unnamed narrator's flight and ordeal, it flipped the colonial invasion story onto the colonizing English and created the template for a century of science fiction. Nothing to do with Orson Welles's panic broadcast — except that it caused it.

Text sourced from Project Gutenberg (public domain in the United States); the Project Gutenberg trademark and license text have been removed on import. Public-domain status determined by the author's death year + 50 years rule.

The War of the Worlds

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