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Mars A Tour of the Human Imagination
Eric S. Rabkin
Book Code: C8719
ISBN: 0-275-98719-1
ISBN-13: 978-0-275-98719-0
232 pages, figures; maps; photos
Praeger Publishers
Publication: 6/30/2005
List Price: $51.95 (UK Sterling Price: £29.95)
Availability: In Stock
Media Type: Hardcover
Also Available: Ebook
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects: Reviews:
  • [P]robes the ways in which Mars has influenced not only the field of astronomy but also mythology, astrology, cultural and literary studies, and more.
    —Library Journal     May 1, 2005
  • [O]ften clever and even enlightening....Comprehensive collections.
    —Choice     December 2005
  • Mars has fascinated us since the time we emerged from the ooze and looked skyward. Both H.G. Wells and Orson Welles found it a source of inspiration, and were it not for Mars the television series My Favorite Martian would have to be called My Favorite Californian. Rabkin offers about 60 short chapters on the reasons why the Red Planet hangs over our science, our speculative literature (both good and bad), and our fantasies. He includes period illustrations of those involved, including Mars itself, and a nifty shot of Martin the Martian, foe of Bugs Bunny.
    —Popular Astronomy     July-September 2006
  • [T]his book contains a wealth of information... In particular, the sections on early ideas, theories and observers such as Copernicus, Kepler, Cassini, et al, are very informative, and this book is worth having as a reference on the Red Planet.
    —SB&F     January/February 2006
Description: What is Mars? From the ancients to the present, we have imagined Mars repeatedly and studied it longingly. As scientific knowledge of Mars has changed, so has the cultural imagination of this celestial neighbors. The earth-centered beginnings of astronomy connected the blood-red planet with the God of War. The Copernican Revolution and a later, simple mistranslation from Italian supported fantastic visions of distant Mars as the abode of life variously bizarre, ideal, or malignant. In the work of H. G. Wells and Orson Welles, in books, films, radio, and television, Mars reflected not only eternal hopes and fears but then-current political realities. In recent years, "NASA-fication" has brought Mars home, imagining the Red Planet almost as an eighth continent of Earth, a candidate for exploration and exploitation both in fiction and in fact. Rabkin weaves a chronological tale of many threads, including mythology, astrology, astronomy, literary criticism, and cultural studies. More than 60 brief chapters focus on people, events, or phenomena concerning the eternal object of curiosity, Mars. This rich series of readable, illustrated chapters can be sampled at will for the fun of discovery, read sequentially as a connected history, or enjoyed as a resource for the contemplation. Featuring over 100 illustrations, this unique examination of humanity's most storied companion serves as a resource for the study of ourselves.
Table of Contents:
  • Preface
  • Acknowledgments
  • Red Light in the Black Sky
  • Starry Night
  • Ancient Egypt: Har Decher
  • The Idealized Solar System
  • What Was A Planet?
  • Mesopotamia: Negral
  • Ancient Greece: Ares
  • Ancient Rome: Mars
  • The Sunset of Mars
  • Changes in Venus
  • Metaphorical Mars
  • Ptolemy
  • The Observation of the Planets
  • Astrological Symbols
  • Days of the Week
  • Alchemy
  • The Mars Symbol
  • Nicolaus Copernicus: Reorganizing the Universe
  • Johannes Kepler: Putting Mars in Its Place
  • Galileo Galilei: Questions of Authority
  • Evangelista Torricelli: How Space Became Empty
  • Christian Huygens: Other Earths?
  • Giovanni Cassini: Very, Very Carefully
  • Isaac Newton: One Big Universe
  • Mars on Their Minds
  • Jonathan Swift: Imaginary Travels
  • William Herschel: Stars and Mars
  • The Solar System Today
  • Asaph Hall: The Sons of Mars
  • Giovanni Schiaparelli: Gaining in Translation
  • Camille Flammarion: Astrophile Extraordinaire
  • Percival Lowell: A Glorious Obsession
  • Percival Lowell: Mapping Mars and Martians
  • H.G. Wells: The War of the Worlds
  • H.G. Wells: Another View From Mars
  • A World Ready to Believe
  • Mark Wicks: A Lowellian Utopia
  • Edgar Rice Burroughs: Mars and America
  • Mars: The Bar vrom Barsoom
  • Dead Mars?
  • Orson Wells: The War of the Worlds Broadcast
  • Marvin the Martian: Playing sith Aliens
  • Ray Bradbury: An American Fairyland
  • George Pal: The War of the Worlds Again
  • Spacecraft: Us v. Them
  • Off to Camp
  • Chemosphere
  • Robert A. Heinlein: The Martian Savior
  • Enter NASA
  • My Favorite Martian
  • The Age of Aquarius
  • The Face on Mars
  • Mars Attacks!
  • Leaving Earth Behind
  • Mars Today
  • Phobos and Deimos Today
  • Men Are from Mars
  • The Nasafication of Mars
  • Mars: The Eighth Continent
  • Marscape
  • Terraforming Mars
  • Red Rover
  • Water on Mars
  • Land of Spirit and Opportunity
  • August, 2003
  • The Beagle Hasn't Landed
  • A-Roving We Will Go
LC Card Number: 2005003476
LCC Class: QB641
Dewey Class: 523
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