Summary
Summary of Edison's Conquest of Mars
Key ideas
Key idea 1
Earth prepares to strike back
Garrett Putman Serviss turns an invasion story around: instead of watching Earth suffer an attack from Mars, he imagines humanity carrying the fight into space. Thomas Edison becomes the hero, joined by scientists and rulers responding to a threat beyond their world.
The adventure comes through a narrator who takes part in the action. Invented machines and strange worlds share the story with real people, connecting the war across space to a hopeful belief in what human knowledge can achieve.
Key idea 2
Victory has not ended the fear
Start free to read
Key idea 3
Edison makes knowledge a weapon
Start free to read
Key idea 4
A common danger brings nations together
Start free to read
Key idea 5
New machines make the mission possible
Start free to read
Key idea 6
The voyage opens a wider view
Start free to read
Key idea 7
Mars reveals its strength and surprises
Start free to read
Key idea 8
An eyewitness makes invention feel immediate
Start free to read
Key idea 9
Confidence shapes this answer to invasion
Start free to read
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
Read the rest freeWho it’s for
For readers who enjoy early science fiction, adventure serials and the history of how people once imagined other planets.
What this book is
Edison's Conquest of Mars is a short science fiction novel by the American astronomer and writer Garrett Putman Serviss. It first appeared as a newspaper serial in 1898, in the weeks after the New York Evening Journal and other papers had printed an unauthorized version of H. G. Wells and his War of the Worlds. Serviss wrote it as a sequel of sorts, and he turned the tables: this time Earth strikes back.
The book gives you a fast, bold adventure told by a narrator who takes part in the action. It features the real inventor Thomas Edison as its hero, together with a gathering of the best scientists and rulers of the day. You will meet new machines, strange worlds and a war fought across space. Let us begin with the shock that starts it all, the Martian attack on Earth and the question of what can be done.
In this summary
- 1Mars has attacked and Earth is shakenFree
- 2Edison takes up the challenge
- 3The nations of Earth join forces
- 4A fleet of spaceships is built
- 5The voyage through space begins
- 6Mars is a world of wonders and danger
- 7What the war says about science and empire
- 8How the story is told
Key point 1 of 8
Mars has attacked and Earth is shaken
The story opens soon after the Martian invasion described by Wells. The Martians have been beaten off, but people on Earth know the danger has not gone. The narrator, a scientist who tells the story in the first person, shares the fear of his time.
He describes a world that has seen its cities damaged and its confidence broken. The old belief that Earth was safe in its quiet corner of the solar system is gone. Governments and ordinary people ask what could stop another attack.
Serviss draws on his own work as an astronomer to make the mood feel real. Mars was a popular subject then, and many people believed it might hold a living civilization. The author uses that belief as the ground of his plot.
The key question is not whether Earth can defend itself but whether it can go on the attack. That bold idea moves the book forward. The narrator hints that only one man has the mind to answer it.
That’s 1 of 8 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
- Nothing to pay today · Renews every year
- We email you before you pay
- Cancel online in two clicks
Check yourself
How does Edison prepare Earth to face Martian technology?
Right. “Edison studies the wreckage and the weapons left behind by the Martians.”Not quite. “Edison studies the wreckage and the weapons left behind by the Martians.”
What brings Earth's competing nations together?
Right. “Fear of Mars sets aside old quarrels, at least for the length of the book.”Not quite. “Fear of Mars sets aside old quarrels, at least for the length of the book.”
How does Serviss's vision of Earth differ from Wells's?
Right. “Where Wells imagines a humbled Earth, Serviss imagines a confident one.”Not quite. “Where Wells imagines a humbled Earth, Serviss imagines a confident one.”
Questions about Edison's Conquest of Mars
What is Edison's Conquest of Mars about?
It tells how Thomas Edison and scientists from many nations build a fleet of spaceships and a powerful weapon, then carry the war to Mars after the Martians have attacked Earth.
Is Edison's Conquest of Mars a sequel to The War of the Worlds?
Yes, in a loose sense. Serviss wrote it as an unofficial sequel to the story by H. G. Wells, and it began as a newspaper serial in 1898.
Is Edison's Conquest of Mars a true story?
No. It is a work of fiction. Thomas Edison and other real people appear as characters, but the war with Mars and the machines in the book are imagined.
Who wrote Edison's Conquest of Mars and when?
Garrett Putman Serviss, an American astronomer and popular science writer, wrote it. It first appeared in newspapers in 1898 and was later printed as a book.
Is Edison's Conquest of Mars hard to read?
No. The chapters are short and the style is plain and fast. The adventure is easy to follow.
