Author: H. G. Wells File Type: mobi The War of the Worlds, by H. G. Wells, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classicsseries, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics ull All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influencesbiographical, historical, and literaryto enrich each readers understanding of these enduring works. lulOn October 30, 1938, Orson Welles terrified American radio listeners by describing a Martian invasion of Earth in a broadcast that became legendary. Forty years earlier, H. G. Wells had first penned the story The War of the Worlds, a science-fiction classic that endures in our collective subconscious. Deeply concerned with the welfare of contemporary society, Wells wrote his novel of interplanetary conflict in anticipation of war in Europe, and in it he predicted the technological savagery of twentieth century warfare. Playing expertly on worldwide security fears, The War of the Worlds grips readers with its conviction that invasion can happen anytime, anywhereeven in our own backyard.Alfred Mac Adam teaches literature at Barnard College-Columbia University. He is a translator and art critic. He also wrote the notes and introduction to the Barnes & Noble Classics edition of Wellss The Time Machine and The Invisible Man.Excerpt. Reprinted by permission. From Alfred Mac Adams Introduction to War of the WorldsThe Martians also reflect Wells himself. Just as the bicycle liberated Wells from the limitations of a weak body, the machines used by the Martians, who are weighed down because the pull of gravity is stronger on Earth than it is on Mars, enable them to move swiftly and attack without warning. The machine is an extension of a body, a kind of prosthetic device that supplies an ability the body lacks. The Martian sitting on top of a huge, three-legged fighting machine striding across Surrey toward London resembles nothing so much as Wells piloting his bicycle around the countryside. And the Martians, like Wells, tend to work alone. That is, while they are involved in a collective activitythe invasion and conquest of England, which is, by extension, the worldthey work alone in their fighting machines or their aluminum manufacturing devices. Except for their time in the space capsule, they are rarely together. Wellss first problem was to decide how to tell such a tale. He could use an external, omniscient narrator, but that would cut down on the immediacy of the action and make it seem much more like history. A single first-person narrator would be possible, but that person would have to travel long distances at almost superhuman speed in order to see everything involved in the Martian invasion. Wells opts for a device Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) uses in Treasure Island (1883), having a first-person narrative become two first-person narratives by introducing a second character who tells us about what happened elsewhere. This is, admittedly, an awkward device because the two charactersbrothers in The War of the Worldsare not in communication with each other. Their separate stories become a single story because the primary narrator takes control of his brothers tale, treating him in the same way an omniscient narrator would treat a character. The primary narrator, then, is both witness and author, a modification of the narrator of The Time Machine, who transcribes the story of the Time Traveller. The personality of this narrator is a vexing matter, and it is here Wells departs from traditional novelistic practice. Wells clearly had many options in this situation He could make his nondescript, suburban science writer into a hero by having him either subdue the Martians or lay the foundations for an organized defense. That solution does not suit Wellss hidden intention, which is to warn those people capable of understanding that their world is rotten and will fall at the first blow from an outside force. Wells does what in both human and novelistic terms makes the most sense He makes his narrator a man of science, but a conventional thinker and not a man in the line of the Time Traveller. He is not a leader, not a warrior, but a man imbued with curiosity. He wants to understand the Martians, wants to observe their machines, and wants to survive to tell the tale. His psychological depth is slight He loves his wife, detests the mad clergyman who almost manages to deliver him to the Martians, feels guilt about being responsible for the mans death, and has a nervous breakdown after learning that the Martians all die because of Earths bacteria. The second central figure, the narrators brother, is no more developed than the narrator. He is a medical student, working for an imminent examination, but that is all we know of him. When, in the final chapter of book one, Wells feels he no longer needs the brother, he simply has him board a ship, witness a navy vessel ram two Martian fighting machines, and sail to Europe. We then return to the adventures of our primary narrator. This sacrifice of character depth to action explains the success of The War of the Worlds. If Wells had transformed his narrator into a preachy precursor of his New Republicans, the reader would probably begin to cheer for the Martians. Instead, he uses both brothers as innocent points of view, reporters telling us what they saw. That they have emotions is merely incidental to their role as informants. Wells relegates his ideas to the minor characters, carefully linking them to human imperfections so that the novel does not degenerate into sermon or essay. Probably the most interesting example of this is the artilleryman. In book one, chapter 11, the narrator, hiding inside his Woking house, sees a man trying to escape the Martians. He invites the man in and learns he is a soldier, a driver in the artillery whose unit has been wiped out by the Martians. The two separate in chapter 12, and we think weve seen the last of the artilleryman until suddenly in book two, chapter 7, he reappears, and now it is he who extends hospitality to the narrator. This is the granddaddy of all alien invasion stories, first published by H.G. Wells in 1898. The novel begins ominously, as the lone voice of a narrator tells readers that No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than mans...Things then progress from a series of seemingly mundane reports about odd atmospheric disturbances taking place on Mars to the arrival of Martians just outside of London. At first the Martians seem laughable, hardly able to move in Earths comparatively heavy gravity even enough to raise themselves out of the pit created when their spaceship landed. But soon the Martians reveal their true nature as death machines 100-feet tall rise up from the pit and begin laying waste to the surrounding land. Wells quickly moves the story from the countryside to the evacuation of London itself and the loss of all hope as Englands military suffers defeat after defeat. With horror his narrator describes how the Martians suck the blood from living humans for sustenance, and how its clear that man is not being conquered so much a corralled.

Author: Thucydides File Type: pdf The greatest historian that ever lived. Such was Macaulays assessment of Thucydides (c. 460-400 BC) and his history of the Peloponnesian War, the momentous struggle between Athens and Sparta that lasted for twenty-seven years from 431 to 404 BC, involved virtually the whole of the Greek world, and ended in the fall of Athens. A participant in the war himself, Thucydides brings to his history an awesome intellect, brilliant narrative, and penetrating analysis of the nature of power, as it affects both states and individuals. Of the prose writers of the ancient world, Thucydides has had more lasting influence on western thought than all but Plato and Aristotle. This new edition combines a masterly new translation by Martin Hammond with comprehensive supporting material, including summaries of individual Books textual notes a comprehensive analytical index an appendix on weights, measures and distances, money, and calendars ten maps an up-to-date bibliography and an illuminating introduction by P.J. Rhodes.About the Series For over 100 years Oxford Worlds Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxfords commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Review[Hammonds] new translation of Thucydides is a triumph. Fluent yet sinewy, it responds brilliantly to the historians challenging prose. It is both accurate and lucid. Indeed, its only possible flaw is that it can at times be rather more comprehensible than Thucydides himself! -Journal of Classical TeachingA substantial work, but with wonderful readabilityand lightness of touch. The book is excellent value for money and the obvious choice for any reader of Thucydides.-The Anglo-Hellenic ReviewThe most accurate and readable [translation] we now have. -ARIONAbout the AuthorMartin Hammond has published translations of the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. P. J. Rhodes is the author of numerous books and articles, including A History of the Classical Greek World, 478-323 BC.