Publisher Description
The Sun and the Moon tells the delightful and surprisingly true story of how a series of articles in the Sun newspaper in 1835 convinced the citizens of New York that the moon was inhabited. Purporting to reveal discoveries of a famous British astronomer, the series described such moon life as unicorns, beavers that walked upright, and four-foot-tall flying man-bats. It quickly became the most widely circulated newspaper story of the era.
Told in richly novelistic detail, The Sun and the Moon brings the raucous world of 1830s New York City vividly to life, including such larger-than-life personages as Richard Adams Locke, who authored the moon series but who never intended it to be a hoax; fledgling showman P. T. Barnum, who had just brought his own hoax to town; and a young Edgar Allan Poe, convinced that the series was a plagiarism of his own work.
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“This book is astonishing. It vividly presents New York, and the nation, in the 1830s. There is poverty and hope as scrappy people struggle to thrive. Slavery is a big issue across the land and newspapers are a new thing. The NY Sun costs a penny and allows people to read a paper who never did so. The editor is a crusader against slavery which is just one issue that brings rivals to blows. Crime reporting spurs sales, but the most amazing thing is a fabricated story that John Hershel has found life on the moon. This saga was written by Richard Locke (distant relative of John Locke), and his personal story is amazing in its own right. People from all over the world are swept up in the utopian moon fantasy. Even PT Barnum, a huckster par excellance, is amazed and admiring. Edgar Alan Poe is outraged because he feels his idea has been stolen! At the center of the hoax, its initial acceptance and then criticism, is religion versus science. Locke and Barnum were both religious skeptics and decried the gullibility of people, many of whom took this story as being consistent with the bible and used that interpretation as a basis for believing the unbelievable. Locke was a great crusader against slavery and many of his critics also found biblical support for slavery, which enraged Locke. There are so many issues raised by this wonderful and amazing book,many of which are still circulating today is one guise or another. I recommend this book without reservation.”
—
Jrobertus (5 out of 5 stars)
