Maren Longbella, The Minnesota Star Tribune

Mars, our reddish-hued neighbor in the solar system, oh how you have captivated us earthlings, fueling an obsession at the turn of the last century that David Baron documents in his oh-my-goodness-they believed-what? romp “The Martians.”

Hindsight is 20/20, as they say, and never more so than in recounting the endeavors of yesteryear’s gentleman scientists. In the case of “The Martians,” Percival Lowell fills that role, he of the Massachusetts Lowells, whose boundless wealth was amassed through textiles.

Despite expectations that he would follow in the tycoon footsteps of his predecessors, Percival wasn’t businessman material. “Not that I quite go in for murder as a necessary stimulus, but people might learn to be lively and gay without being

See Full Page