G. WELL’s 1898 science fiction classic, The War of the Worlds, tapped into society’s fears about worldwide security and an impending war in Europe. However, it wasn’t until forty years later that The War of the Worlds became infamous. On October 30, 1938, the United States was certain that it was under siege by vicious Martians.Thousands of people called the police, many ran from their homes in terror, and some even sought medical attention for shock and hysteria. Martians weren't really invading:Orson Welles, a famous actor, was performing a radio dramatization of The War of the Worlds that convinced listeners an invasion could happen anytime and anywhere.

We modern readers have a tendency, whenever we discover that a book written long ago still seems smart or funny or scary, to declare that it was "ahead of its time." We say this because we think of the past as a Third World country, whose primitive writers might as well have worn animal skins and written their stories with crude symbols in dust. It’s difficult for us to believe that brains way back in the day could come up with ideas and language that still make us jump--we who are all ho-hum about smart bombs and satellite surveillance and cell phones. "Ahead of its time" is spoken as a compliment, but a patronizing one: Isn’t it cute how those old gentlemen and ladies managed, albeit crudely, to predict black holes or nanobots or Terminator 3?...

FOREWORD

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 SIXTEENt: THE EXODUS FROM LONDON

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: THE "THUNDER CHILD"

BOOK II： 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

CHAFFER FIVE: THE STILLNESS

CHAPTER SIX: THE WORK OF FIFTIFEN DAYS

CHAPTER SEVEN: THE MAN ON PUTNEY HILL

CHAPTER EIGHT: DEAD LONDON

CHAPTER NINE: WRECKAGE

CHAPTER TEN: THE EPILOGUE