The War of the Worlds is a novel by English author , first serialised in 1897 by in the UK and by magazine in the US. The novel's first appearance in hardcover was in 1898 from publisher of London. Written between 1895 and 1897, it is one of the earliest stories to detail a conflict between mankind and an race The novel is the of both an unnamed in and of his younger brother in as is invaded by . The novel is one of the most commented-on works in the science fiction . The book's plot was similar to numerous works of which were published around the same period, and has been variously interpreted as a commentary on the , , and fears, superstitions and prejudices. Wells later noted that an inspiration for the plot was the on the ; some historians have argued that Wells wrote the book in part to encourage his readership to question the morality of . At the time of the book's publication, it was classified as a , like Wells's earlier novel .
