There was a time when almost everyone, from Alexander Graham Bell to the Wall Street Journal, believed there was a supremely intelligent civilization on Mars, one that was probably trying to talk to Earthlings. Most of this belief could be traced to an amateur astronomer and charismatic speaker named Percival Lowell. David Baron tells this story in “The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze that Captured Turn-of-the-Century America,” the product of seven years of research into this strange chapter of history. He shares many of the most surprising, fascinating, and very entertaining details, including much that had been lost to history, in this book club conversation with Mat Kaplan.

Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/book-club-david-baron