Language Notes
Text: English, French (translation)


The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature
Novel by Jules Verne, published as De la Terre a la Lune (1865) and also published as The Baltimore Gun Club and The American Gun Club. Although the novel was subtitled Trajet direct en 97 heures 20 minutes ("Direct Passage in Ninety-Seven Hours and Twenty Minutes"), the actual journey to the Moon was depicted in the book's sequel, Autour de la Lune (1870; Round the Moon). From the Earth to the Moon concerns a group of obsessive American Civil War veterans, members of the Baltimore Gun Club, who conceive the idea of creating an enormous cannon in order to shoot a "space-bullet" to the Moon from a site in Florida.


From the Publisher
Written almost a century before the daring flights of the astronauts, Jules Verne's prophetic novel of man's race to the stars is a classic adventure tale enlivened by broad satire and scientific acumen.When the members of the elite Baltimore Gun Club find themselves lacking any urgent assignments at the close of the Civil War, their president, Impey Barbicane, proposes that they build a gun big enough to launch a rocket to the moon. But when Barbicane's adversary places a huge wager that the project will fail and a daring volunteer elevates the mission to a "manned" flight, one man's dream turns into an international space race.


From the Inside Flap
Written almost a century before the daring  flights of the astronauts, Jules Verne's prophetic novel of man's race to the stars is a classic adventure tale enlivened by broad satire and scientific acumen.



When the members of the elite Baltimore Gun Club find themselves lacking any urgent assignments at the close of the Civil War, their president, Impey Barbicane, proposes that they build a gun big enough to launch a rocket to the moon. But when Barbicane's adversary places a huge wager that the project will fail and a daring volunteer elevates the mission to a "manned" flight, one man's dream turns into an international space race.

ANNOTATION

Written almost a century before the daring flights of the astronauts, Jules Verne's prophetic novel of man's race to the stars is a story of rip-roaring action, humor, and wild imagination. With broad satire as well as scientific acumen, From the Earth to the Moon spins a tale set in 1865 about a group of men who decide to build a gun big enough to launch a rocket to the moon.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Written almost a century before the daring flights of the astronauts, Jules Verne's prophetic novel of man's race to the stars is a classic adventure tale enlivened by broad satire and scientific acumen.