<P> Two unauthorised serialisations of the novel were published in the United States prior to the publication of the novel . The first was published in the New York Evening Journal between December 1897 and January 1898 . The story was published as Fighters from Mars or the War of the Worlds . It changed the location of the story to a New York setting . The second version changed the story to have the Martians landing in the area near and around Boston, and was published by the Boston Post in 1898, which Wells protested against . It was called Fighters from Mars, or the War of the Worlds in and near Boston . Both pirated versions of the story were followed by Edison's Conquest of Mars by Garrett P. Serviss . Even though these versions are deemed as unauthorised serialisations of the novel, it is possible that H.G. Wells may have, without realising it, agreed to the serialisation in the New York Evening Journal . </P> <P> The War of the Worlds was generally received very favourably by both readers and critics upon its publication . There was however some criticism of the brutal nature of the events in the narrative . </P> <P> Between 1871 and 1914 over 60 works of fiction for adult readers describing invasions of Great Britain were published . The seminal work was The Battle of Dorking (1871) by George Tomkyns Chesney, an army officer . The book portrays a surprise German attack, with a landing on the South coast of England, made possible by the distraction of the Royal Navy in colonial patrols and the army in an Irish insurrection . The German army makes short work of English militia and rapidly marches to London . The story was published in Blackwood's Magazine in May 1871, and so popular that it was reprinted a month later as a pamphlet which sold 80,000 copies . </P> <P> The appearance of this literature reflected the increasing feeling of anxiety and insecurity as international tensions between European Imperial powers escalated towards the outbreak of the First World War . Across the decades the nationality of the invaders tended to vary, according to the most acutely perceived threat at the time . In the 1870s the Germans were the most common invaders . Towards the end of the nineteenth century, a period of strain on Anglo - French relations, and the signing of a treaty between France and Russia, the French became the more common menace . </P>

Summary of the war of the worlds by hg wells