The Brick Moon and Other Stories

Edward Everett Hale (1822-1909) was a writer and theologian most famous for his Union propaganda piece, "The Man Without a Country," penned in 1863 to lend support for the Civil War effort. The book is called a short story but is really a novelette in four chapters. It has been called early science fiction. The book is filled with references to contemporary events and characters, some long-forgotten, others unforgettable - Darwin, for example. It is an amusing book to read filled with clever but usually impossible ideas, including a brick moon. It IS the first reference to creation of an artificial satellite!!