{"product_id":"welcome-to-mars-isbn-9781583947616","title":"Welcome to Mars","description":"\u003ci\u003eWelcome to Mars \u003c\/i\u003eis a captivating look at the culture of postwar America and its dream of limitless technological and human development. Utilizing declassified government archives, newspaper records, ad campaigns, and B-movies of the period, Hollings weaves an intricate web of Cold War politics, UFO scares, psychedelic research, and 1950s pop culture. From the atom bomb and suburban planning to the space race and little-green-men movies, \u003ci\u003eWelcome to Mars\u003c\/i\u003e shows the startling connections between science fact and science fiction, a feedback loop in which real technological advances and government experimentation gave rise to science fiction fantasy, which then fed new innovation and research. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIntroduction: Scenes From A History As Yet Unwritten\u003cbr\u003eChapter 1--1947: Rebuilding Lemuria\u003cbr\u003eChapter 2--1948: Flying Saucers Over America\u003cbr\u003eChapter 3--1949: Behaviour Modification\u003cbr\u003eChapter 4--1950: Cheapness And Splendour\u003cbr\u003eChapter 5--1951: Absolute Elsewhere\u003cbr\u003eChapter 6--1952: Red Planet\u003cbr\u003eChapter 7--1953: Other Tongues, Other Flesh\u003cbr\u003eChapter 8--1954: Meet The Monsters\u003cbr\u003eChapter 9--1955: Popular Mechanics\u003cbr\u003eChapter 10--1956: 'Greetings, My Friend!'\u003cbr\u003eChapter 11--1957: Contact With Space\u003cbr\u003eChapter 12--1958: Mass Hysteria\u003cbr\u003eChapter 13--1959: Teenagers From Outer Space\u003cbr\u003eConclusion: Thinking the Unthinkable\u003cbr\u003eBibliography\u003cbr\u003eIndex\u003cbr\u003eList of Illustrations\"In \u003ci\u003eWelcome to Mars\u003c\/i\u003e, Ken Hollings details how Cold War politics, altered states of consciousness, extraterrestrial beings, postwar optimism and imagination came together in a strange maelstrom during the 1950s... Hollings approaches each year of the decade like a midcentury radio broadcaster, stitching together the various myths, facts and events into a brilliant cultural and scientific history... A highly entertaining examination of the postwar decade's obsession with the weird and otherworldly, which shaped both science and culture.\"\u003cbr\u003e—Shelf Awareness\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Ken Hollings shows brilliantly how the extraordinary web of technologies that drove the Cold War have shaped not just our culture but the very way we think of ourselves as human beings. \u003ci\u003eWelcome to Mars \u003c\/i\u003eoffers a rare and fascinating glimpse of the roots of the strange humanoid culture we live in today.\"\u003cbr\u003e—Adam Curtis, director of \u003ci\u003eThe Century of the Self \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Power of Nightmares\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"Ken Hollings is a master at connecting the dots between avant garde art history, outré culture, weird science, and basically everything that interests me.\"\u003cbr\u003e—David Pescovitz, coeditor of \u003ci\u003eBoing Boing \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eWelcome to Mars\u003c\/i\u003e is a map of the post-war Zone, a nonfiction \u003ci\u003eGravity's Rainbow \u003c\/i\u003ethat follows the arc of Germany's V2 rocket to the end of the rainbow—to America.\"\u003cbr\u003e—Erik Davis, author of \u003ci\u003eTechgnosis: Myth, Magic, and Mysticism in the Age of Information\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A searingly accurate and deeply disturbing exposé of the fantasies of American modernism that have inspired the many nightmares and the few hopeful visions of our new Millennium.\"\u003cbr\u003e—Dr. Jacques Vallée, computer scientist and astronomerKEN HOLLINGS is a writer based in London. His work appears in a wide range of journals and publications, including \u003ci\u003eThe Wire, Sight and Sound, Strange Attractor, Frieze, Blast, \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eNude,\u003c\/i\u003e and in the anthologies \u003ci\u003eThe Last Sex, Digital Delirium, Undercurrents, London Noir \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eKrautrock.\u003c\/i\u003e His novel \u003ci\u003eDestroy All Monsters\u003c\/i\u003e was hailed by \u003ci\u003eThe Scotsman\u003c\/i\u003e as \"a mighty slab of trippy, cult, out-there fiction, mind-bending reading.\" He has written and presented critically acclaimed programmes for BBC Radio 3, Radio 4, Resonance FM, NPS in Holland, and ABC Australia. His newest book, \u003ci\u003eThe Bright Labyrinth\u003c\/i\u003e, will appear in 2013. Foreword writer ERIK DAVIS is the author of \u003ci\u003eTechgnosis: Myth, Magic and Mysticism in the Age of Information\u003c\/i\u003e and has written widely on counterculture, esotericism, and music. The author lives in London, England.","brand":"North Atlantic Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46305104199909,"sku":"NP9781583947616","price":12.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781583947616.jpg?v=1767743758","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/welcome-to-mars-isbn-9781583947616","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}