The War of the Worlds (AD Classic Illustrated)

H. G. Wells, Frank R. Paul

• Publisher: AD Classic
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9781926606903
• eBook ISBN:
  9781927970966
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Science Fiction
• Index: Literature

Shortly after astronomers observe explosions on the surface of Mars, meteor-like objects begin crashing into Earth. Martians emerge from their craters in large tripods, wiping out army units with heat-rays as they roam the English countryside. When the order is given to evacuate London, all seems lost. But there is one minor detail that the Martians did not plan for. H. G. Wells is credited with the popularisation of time travel in 1895 with The Time Machine, introducing the idea of time being the "fourth dimension" a decade before the publication of Einstein's first Relativity papers. In 1896, he imagined a mad scientist creating human-like beings from animals in The Island of Doctor Moreau, which created a growing interest in animal welfare throughout Europe. In 1897 with The Invisible Man, Wells shows how a formula could render one invisible, recognizing that an invisible eye would not be able to focus, thus rendering the invisible man blind. With The War of the Worlds in 1898, Wells established the idea that an advanced civilization could live on Mars, popularising the term 'martian' and the idea that aliens could invade Earth.

Table of contents

• CONTENTS
• Book One The Coming of the Martians
• CHAPTER ONE The Eve of the War
• CHAPTER TWO The Falling Star
• CHAPTER THREE On Horsell Common
• CHAPTER FOUR The Cylinder Opens
• CHAPTER FIVE The Heat Ray
• CHAPTER SIX The Heat-Ray in the Chobham Road
• CHAPTER SEVEN How I Reached Home
• CHAPTER EIGHT Friday Night
• CHAPTER NINE The Fighting Begins
• CHAPTER TEN In the Storm
• CHAPTER ELEVEN At the Window
• CHAPTER TWELVE What I Saw of the Destruction of Weybridge and Shepperton
• CHAPTER THIRTEEN How I Fell in with the Curate
• CHAPTER FOURTEEN In London
• CHAPTER FIFTEEN What Had Happened in Surrey
• CHAPTER SIXTEEN The Exodus from London
• CHAPTER SEVENTEEN The “Thunder Child”
• BOOK TWO The Earth Under the Martians
• CHAPTER ONE Under Foot
• CHAPTER TWO What we Saw from the Ruined House
• CHAPTER THREE The Days of Imprisonment
• CHAPTER FOUR The Death of the Curate
• CHAPTER FIVE The Stillness
• CHAPTER SIX The Work of Fifteen Days
• CHAPTER SEVEN The Man on Putney Hill
• CHAPTER EIGHT Dead London
• CHAPTER NINE Wreckage
• CHAPTER TEN The Epilogue