The first modern-day science-fiction story about the possibilities of intelligent life on distant planets follows an English astronomer, an artilleryman, a country curate, and others, as they struggle to survive and stop the invasion of Earth by Martians. Reprint. (A Paramount/Dreamworks film, directed by Steven Spielberg, releasing Summer 2005, starring Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, & Tim Robbins) (Literature)