The War of the Worlds

H.G. Wells's 1898 novel invented the alien invasion story and remains its definitive expression. When cylinders from Mars crash into the English countryside, they disgorge tripod fighting machines armed with heat rays and poison gas. Victorian England's mighty military is helpless against the Martian onslaught. As cities burn and civilization collapses, one man struggles to survive and reunite with his wife. Wells wrote War of the Worlds as a critique of British colonialism—what would it feel like, he asked, to be on the receiving end of technological conquest? The answer still resonates. A Raven's Gate Classics edition with apocalyptic new cover art.