Written almost a century before the daring flights of the astronauts, Jules Vernes prophetic novel of mans 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 Barbicanes adversary places a huge wager that the project will fail and a daring volunteer elevates the mission to a manned flight, one mans dream turns into an international space race. A story of rip-roaring action, humor, and wild imagination, From the Earth to the Moon is as uncanny in its accuracy and as filled with authentic detail and startling immediacy as Vernes timeless masterpieces 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Around the World in Eighty Days. From the Paperback edition.