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  • Spooked!: How a Radio Broadcast and The War of the Worlds Sparked the 1938 Invasion of America by Gail Jarrow
  • Elizabeth Bush
Jarrow, Gail Spooked!: How a Radio Broadcast and The War of the Worlds Sparked the 1938 Invasion of America. Calkins Creek, 2018 [144p] illus. with photographs
ISBN 978-1-62979-776-2 $18.95
Reviewed from galleys R* Gr. 6-10

It was never intended as a hoax, but Orson Welles and his Mercury Theatre players pulled off one of the most celebrated Halloween “tricks” ever with their you-are-there radio play-by-play of a Martian invasion, based on H. G. Wells’ novel The War of the Worlds. Jarrow presents a detailed examination of the frantic script-writing process, the wartime censors’ weigh-ins, and the slim hopes Mercury Theatre had for a positive reception (Welles predicted, “Very dull. Very dull. It’ll put ’em to sleep”). Dull it was not, as many uncritical listeners and people who missed the four statements identifying this as a fictional tale interpreted the broadcast as a legitimate news report. The book does an excellent job of recreating the broadcast itself with inserted annotations directing readers to note the discrepancies between real-time airing and fictional-time plotting, and her analysis of the popular response—negative and positive—to the show concludes that, although a significant number of [End Page 475] listeners were indeed frightened or embarrassed by their own gullibility, tales of widespread panic have become a matter of legend rather than verifiable fact. This fascinating episode loses nothing for having some of the wilder myths debunked, and the takeaway lesson in thoughtful media consumption emerges effortlessly from this cautionary tale. Themed “More to Explore” lists, source notes, bibliography, index, and plenty of photos from the time are included.

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