Biographical note -- Introduction / Sir Arthur C. Clarke -- War of the Worlds: Book One: The coming of the Martians: Eve of the war -- Falling star -- On Horsell Common -- Cylinder opens -- Heat ray -- Heat ray in the Chobham Road -- How I reached home -- Friday night -- Fighting begins -- In the storm -- At the window -- What I saw of the destruction of Weybridge and Shepperton -- How I fell in with the curate -- In London -- What had happened in Surrey -- Exodus from London -- "Thunder Child" -- Book two: The Earth under the Martians: Underfoot -- What we saw from the ruined house -- Days of imprisonment -- Death of the curate -- Stillness -- Work of fifteen days -- Man on Putney Hill -- Dead London -- Wreckage -- Epilogue -- Commentary -- Reading group guide.
Summary
An English astronomer, in company with an artilleryman, a country curate, and others, struggle to survive the invasion of Earth by Martians in 1894.