A literary history of Mars from 1877 to the early 2000s. Compared to Markley’s Dying Planet this one is more focused on the purely literary, with no attempt to simultaneously be a history of science. Crossley also inserts much less of his politics, which I found a blessing.

He is, on the other hand, more inclined to pass aesthetic judgment, characterizing various novels (he mostly focuses on novels as opposed to shorter formats) as masterpieces or failures. You quickly gather he likes thinky books that engage with various social and other issues, but has less appreciation for action or escapism.

While most space is devoted to well-known works like Wells’ The War of the Worlds and Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars trilogy, there are some lesser known mentioned that seemed interesting enough I might seek them out.

The section on robinsonades on Mars inevitably felt rather dated, being written before the publication of The Martian.