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Category: Kluge Center

Illustration shows two Martians, one holding a telescope and yawning, expressing relief now that the election for governor of New York has been decided (in favor of Charles Evans Hughes); in the background, on planet Earth, fireworks mark the celebration in New York.

Crazy About Those Martians!

Posted by: Neely Tucker

We're talking today with David Baron, author of “The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze that Captured Turn-of-the-Century America,” who will be at this year’s National Book Festival on Sept. 6. It’s about the public fascination between 1890-1910 with what looked to be the very real possibility of life of Mars. The main cultural artifact of this belief might be H.G. Wells’ 1898 novel, “The War of the Worlds,” which imagined hostile Martians invading Earth in spectacular fashion. But as Baron writes, most of the views were utopian, picturing Martians as a far advanced, heroic people.

Posted in: Gilded Age, Kluge Center, Library Work and Employees, National Book Festival, Researcher Stories, Science, Technology

Medium close photo of a man seated, wearing a light purple suit with an open-collared white shirt.

Kwame Anthony Appiah, “The Ethicist,” Will See You Now

Posted by: Neely Tucker

Should your boyfriend save your beloved cat or a drowning stranger? Your stepdad has Alzheimer's and now your mom wants to date. Is this okay? Kwame Anthony Appiah, the author of The Ethicist column for the New York Times Magazine and 2024 winner of the Library’s John W. Kluge Prize for Achievement in the Study of Humanity, took on these and other quandries in a fun Live! At the Library event.

Posted in: Events, Kluge Center, Library Work and Employees, Writers