Join LILRC when we welcome back award-winning writer David Baron to discuss his acclaimed new book, The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze that Captured Turn-of-the-Century America (Liveright, 2025). 

About The Martians 

“There is Life on the Planet Mars” ―New York Times, December 9, 1906.

This New York Times headline was no joke.

In the early 1900s, many Americans actually believed we had discovered intelligent life on Mars, as best-selling science writer David Baron chronicles in The Martians, his truly bizarre tale of a nation swept up in Mars mania.”

David Baron is an award-winning journalist and author who writes about science, nature, and the American West. Formerly a science correspondent for NPR and science editor for the public radio program The World, he has also written for The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Scientific American, and other publications. While conducting research for his latest book, THE MARTIANS, he served as the Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology, Exploration, and Scientific Innovation. David is an avid eclipse chaser, and his TED Talk on the subject has been viewed more than 2 million times. An affiliate of the University of Colorado’s Center for Environmental Journalism, he lives in Boulder.

Praise for The Martians

"Science journalist Baron (American Eclipse) explores the fanciful tales surrounding the debate on whether intelligent beings inhabited Mars...This absorbing, illustrated account will transport science fiction and astronomy buffs back to when people dreamed of life on Mars."

― Library Journal, starred review

"In this captivating and vivid history, journalist Baron (American Eclipse) recreates the mania for Mars that gripped America over a century ago . . . While Baron points to the dangers of conspiracy theories and bunk science, he also presents the saga as one of infectious optimism that inspired subsequent generations of science fiction writers and scientists. It’s an enthrallingly bizarre and surprisingly poignant account of humankind’s limitless willingness to believe."

― Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Entertaining account of the Mars madness that saturated popular culture at the turn of the 20th century.... Are there Martians out there? Baron has evident good fun looking into the origins of an ongoing craze."

― Kirkus Reviews

"Throughout, Baron weaves in the impact of world affairs as well as sensationalist journalism, which positioned Mars news as an escape from reality. Although the Mars craze did not last past WWI, Baron argues that it influenced future space missions and sf luminaries. Additionally, Baron personally visited historic sites connected to Mars coverage, providing a present-day connection to past enthusiasm. A captivating look at an astronomical obsession."

― Rebekah Kati, Booklist

This program is being presented in cooperation with NASA's Solar System Ambassador program.

 Code of Conduct

For questions, please email Eliscia Cirrone, ecirrone@lilrc.org.

Contact Hours: 1

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