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9781324090663

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Reviews

""A tale astonishing and improbable. Ego! Madness! Tesla! Turn-of-the-century bon vivants and engineering-savvy Martians! And, at heart, the very human longing for a better world. Impressively researched and perfectly executed, The Martians is . . . a fizzing terrific read."" -- Mary Roach, author of Packing for Mars ""David Baron, America’s premier scribe writing at the intersection of astronomy and social history, captures the Red Planet Craze in all its quirky and fabulous weirdness. . . . The Martians makes for enlightening and insightful reading, but it’s also just plain fun."" -- Hampton Sides, author of The Wide Wide Sea ""David Baron’s exuberant book tells the story of a seemingly alien race—Americans of a century or so ago—that, on closer inspection, bears an uncanny resemblance to us today. The rich had gotten fantastically richer, life was unsettled by an array of new technologies, and, in their frustration, people began looking elsewhere for answers."" -- Russell Shorto, author of Taking Manhattan ""David Baron beautifully captures all the drama, humor, and sheer craziness at the turn of the twentieth century when America went bonkers over the possibility of life on Mars. Well researched and thoroughly entertaining."" -- Marcia Bartusiak, author of The Day We Found the Universe ""In his skillful tour of the era, David Baron introduces us to a colorful cast of astronomers, inventors, and kooks, as they projected both the dreams and prejudices of a rapidly transforming society out into the solar system."" -- Peter Brannen, author of The Ends of the World ""[David Baron’s] book reveals the amazing backstory of what led to today’s Mars exploration program and the place that Mars holds in our collective consciousness."" -- Bruce Jakosky, project lead, NASA’s MAVEN mission to Mars (2003–2021) ""David Baron uses diligent research and smooth storytelling to explore the fine line between delusion and genius, the allure of unknown planets, and—perhaps the biggest revelation of all—the surprisingly potent afterlives of discredited ideas."" -- Darrell Hartman, author of Battle of Ink and Ice

""Mars, our barren neighbor, has served as an empty canvas for our expansionist imaginations since long before Elon Musk arrived on the scene. Baron chronicles the lasting influence of the Mars mania that gripped America during the early 1900s, how it captured the imaginations of Nikola Tesla and Alexander Graham Bell, generated speculative news headlines, fueled astronomical ambitions and left an indelible imprint on our culture."" -- The New York Times Book Review: one of “21 Nonfiction Books Coming this Summer” ""David Baron’s exuberant book tells the story of a seemingly alien race—Americans of a century or so ago—that, on closer inspection, bears an uncanny resemblance to us today. The rich had gotten fantastically richer, life was unsettled by an array of new technologies, and, in their frustration, people began looking elsewhere for answers."" -- Russell Shorto, author of Taking Manhattan

Author Information

David Baron is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster, and author of The Beast in the Garden and American Eclipse. A former science correspondent for NPR, he has also written for the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Scientific American, and other publications. David recently served as the Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology, Exploration, and Scientific Innovation. He lives in Boulder, Colorado.

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