Book Review: Spooked! How a Radio Broadcast and The War of the Worlds Sparked the 1938 Invasion of America by Gail Jarrow

This review is being published on the actual 82nd anniversary of the historic "War of the Worlds", which took place on October 30th, 1938, beginning at 7:00 PM Central Time. If you have access to the internet, I encourage you to celebrate this anniversary by finding one of the many audio copies of this show archived online and listen to it tonight, starting at 7:00 PM here in Lincoln, NE. Try to place yourself in the mindset of listeners back in 1938, when radio was the primary method of in-home entertainment!

Spooked!:How a Radio Broadcast and The War of the Worlds Sparked the 1938 Invasion ofAmerica
by Gail Jarrow (j 791.447 WarYj)

This marvelous volume from author Gail Jarrow does a terrific job of looking back at the October 30th, 1938 radio broadcast of “The War of the Worlds”, starring Orson Welles and the panic it is supposed to have caused in the listening public at the time. This radio play is an updated and relocated adaptation of H.G. Wells classic science fiction novel of invaders from Mars. In the radioplay, instead of landing in the English countryside, the aliens first land in Grover’s Mill, NJ. The radio play was done in “as it happens” style, combining fake news reports, interruptions to regular broadcasts, and a full cast of performers treating the alien invasion as a real event. Unfortunately, due to a variety of odd circumstances, many listeners tuned in late and the verisimilitude of the radio program led many to believe the events truly were happening. Jarrow’s book explores the history of the broadcast and also the repercussions in days and years after the “panic broadcast” let to such a misunderstanding. All the information is presented in quick, bite-size nuggets, and the book is filled with gorgeous photos and illustrations. Definitely a fun read for anyone who’s a fan of this classic Halloween broadcast, or of radio and pop culture history in general.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try listening to the original 1938 radio broadcast — available online from several sources, the original novel The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells, or Aliens Are Coming!: The True Account of the 1938 War of the Worlds Radio Broadcast by Meghan McCarthy.]

[ Wikipedia page for the 1938 War of the Worlds radio broadcast ] | [ official Gail Jarrow web site ]

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

New BooksTalk Booklist: Sandy's Shivers

Sandy W., from the Gere Branch Library, presented a booktalk at the Bethany BooksTalks series on October 18, 2019, which featured mysteries with a psychic element (both cozies and more serious), mysteries with a twist, and new books about Orson Welles' famous 1938 “War of the Worlds” radio broadcast.

Check out the list of titles Sandy shared at the following link: 

Sandy’s Shivers

The Massacre of Mankind by Stephen Baxter

The Massacre of Mankind
by Stephen Baxter

This is the first-and-only authorized sequel to H.G. Wells’ classic 1897 SF novel, The War of the Worlds. Though numerous unofficials sequels and follow-up volumes have been published over the years, The Massacre of Mankind is the first approved by the Wells estates. Baxter has been writing acclaimed SF for decades, both on his own and partnered with such genre luminaries as Arthur C. Clarke and Terry Pratchett.

The Massacre of Mankind is set in the1920s, some 14 years after the events in Wells novel. In most ways, this novel is not only science fiction but also “alternate history”, as the events of 1897 have had a severe impact on England (and most of the rest of the world) — government has become more dystopian, and across the planet, preparations are underway to fight back, if a new wave of Martian invaders is detected. Many don’t believe it will happen again, but Walter Jenkins, the narrator of the Wells’ original novel, has been researching and studying, and he believes the earlier invasion was merely a scouting mission, and that the full-scale invasion is still to come. Though he is correct, he’s having difficulty getting anyone to believe his outlandish theories. Fortunately, he convinces Julie Elphinstone, his ex-sister-in-law, and an American investigative journalist…just before the little puffs of smoke on the surface of Mars indicate a new invasion fleet has launched — and this time there will be hundreds of them coming to our world.

This is a fast-paced adventure, with fascinating explorations of the scientific concepts that the characters could have debated at the time, based on what was known to them — sure, from our time period nearly a century later, some of the science looks a little shaky, but for the 1920s, it was fairly cutting edge. Baxter does an incredible job of matching the style of storytelling that Wells employed in the original novel — this really does feel like a classic genre novel from 100 years ago! And yet, unlike the majority of fiction from that era, The Massacre of Mankind features a number of very strong female characters, who are shown to be just as, if not more, capable then their male counterparts. This novel is huge — a bit of a doorstop of a book — but in the end, I enjoyed it very much, and I do highly recommend it, especially if you’re a fan of Wells’ original novel.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Time Ships, an officially authorized sequel to H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, also by Baxter.]

[ publisher’s official The Massacre of Mankind web page ] | [ official Stephen Baxter web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!