Description
“There Is Life on the Planet Mars” — The New York Times, 9 December 1906
The New York Times headline was no joke. In the early 1900s, many believed intelligent life had been discovered on Mars. The Martians —a bizarre tale reconstructed through newly discovered clippings, letters and photographs—begins in the 1890s with Percival Lowell, a Harvard scion who was so certain of his Mars discovery that he (almost) convinced a generation of astronomers that grainy photographs of the red planet revealed meltwater and an intricate canal system, declaring “there can be no doubt that living beings inhabit our neighbouring world” (The New York Times ).
So frenzied was the reaction that international controversies arose. Tesla announced he had received Martian radio signals, biologists debated whether Martians were winged or gilled and a new genre called science fiction arose. While Lowell’s claims were debunked, his influence sparked a compulsive interest in Mars and life in outer space that continues to this day.
David Baron’s American Eclipse was praised as:
- "suffused with the peculiar magic and sense of awe that have always attended eclipses, those fraught few minutes when day becomes night, time stands still—and anything seems possible.”— Hampton Sides, The New York Times best-selling author of Blood and Thunder
Reviews
"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
"Engrossing... Baron seasons his narrative with striking details... Until we learn more from future missions, his highly enjoyable book makes a strong case for the proposition that brainy Martians exist only in the imagination of Earthlings." — Dennis Drabelle, The Washington Post
"With The Martians, David Baron has crafted more than a history book; it’s a cultural mirror reflecting our endless curiosity about whether we are alone. As humanity edges closer to setting foot on Mars, the lessons from past “Mars mania” may help us navigate the line between inspiration and illusion." — NASA Space News
"The world is gaga for Mars. Its richest man, Elon Musk, is actively scheming to colonize the red planet over the next decade . . . Under the long, dark shadow cast by this ambition, the science journalist David Baron has produced a short, twinkling book about the origins of Mars mania . . . You can consider Baron a sort of sun, shedding light . . . In Baron’s true tale, reputations rise and fall, and ego distorts like a smudged lens." — Alexandra Jacobs, The new York Times Book Review
Also By: David Baron 
American Eclipse: A Nation's Epic Race to Catch the Shadow of the Moon and Win the Glory of the World
Paperback, 2024
Richly illustrated and meticulously researched,American Eclipseultimately depicts a young nation that looked to the skies to reveal its towering ambition and expose its latent genius
American Eclipse: A Nation's Epic Race to Catch the Shadow of the Moon and Win the Glory of the World
Hardback, 2017
This nineteenth-century celestial drama will enthral readers as a coast-to-coast total solar eclipse plunges America into darkness.
American Eclipse: A Nation's Epic Race to Catch the Shadow of the Moon and Win the Glory of the World
E Book, 2017
Richly illustrated and meticulously researched,American Eclipseultimately depicts a young nation that looked to the skies to reveal its towering ambition and expose its latent genius
The Beast in the Garden: A Modern Parable of Man and Nature
E Book, 2010
The true tale of an edenic Rocky Mountain town and what transpired when a predatory species returned to its ancestral home.
The Beast in the Garden: The True Story of a Predator's Deadly Return to Suburban America
Paperback, 2005
"Reads like a crime novel . . . each chapter ends on a cliff-hanging note."—Seattle Times
