A century before NASA rovers rambled across the dusty regolith of Mars and before Elon Musk set his sights on terraforming the rusty world, Americans were already captivated by the red planet. In The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze that Captured Turn-of-the-Century America, award-winning science writer David Baron resurrects the forgotten era of “Mars mania,” when leading scientists, inventors, and ordinary citizens were convinced our solar system neighbor was inhabited by little green men.
Baron, author of American Eclipse and The Beast in the Garden, recounts the origins of Martian mania, beginning in the late 19th century with Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli’s reports of enigmatic “canali” on the Martian surface. His observations were mistranslated as “canals,” igniting speculation that intelligent beings had engineered massive waterways to survive a dying planet. From there, speculation snowballed. The wealthy Boston Brahmin Percival Lowell staked his career and fortune on proving the existence of Martians, building an observatory in Arizona to map their supposed canals. Newspapers and magazines ran with the story, printing sensational illustrations of insectoid Martians and cities etched into the desert landscape.
The book reveals how prominent figures of the age, including Alexander Graham Bell and Wall Street titan J.P. Morgan, were drawn into the Martian craze. Wireless radio pioneer Nikola Tesla speculated his inventions might allow direct communication with Martians, blurring the line between science and fantasy. For more than a decade, serious institutions and sober-minded thinkers embraced an idea that today seems fantastical.
Baron writes with both humor and sympathy for the era’s dreamers, emphasizing that the Martian obsession reflected the anxieties and aspirations of a society in rapid upheaval. Industrialization, scientific discovery, and shifting cultural norms left many grasping for meaning. Mars became a canvas onto which they projected their fears, hopes, and utopian ideals. At dinner parties and on Broadway stages, “Martians” appeared in costume; in newspapers, they were depicted as proof of progress, or omens of doom.
Ultimately, the mania collapsed under the weight of better telescopes and sobering evidence, leaving behind disgraced scientists and bankrupt theories. However Baron argues, the legacy endures. The early fascination cemented Mars as humanity’s most compelling otherworldly neighbor, setting the stage for both modern science fiction and today’s billion-dollar exploration programs.
Guest:
David Baron is the author of The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze that Captured Turn-of-the-Century America.
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This interview will air live on Tuesday, August 26, 2025, at 12:30 p.m.
