I would guess that he merely used the United States as a geographical setting for his writing, giving the players an extremely French flair, and in my opinion, creating a cast of clichés. His portrayal of Americans in his writing leaves something to be desired. Verne's genius and lasting legacy lay in his grasp of science and technology, not in his ability to create characterizations. Not to be left out, a single Frenchman is included in this brain trust of 19th century American spacefarers.I didn’t see that coming, Jules being French and all. Surprisingly, the calculations and methods he devised eventually came to be.Īs the story begins, we find a group of gentlemen, who style themselves 'The Baltimore Gun Club”, looking for adventure, maybe fame, perhaps wealth, possibly an extraordinary league. This band of merry zealots build the World's largest cannon, and cobble together a method of shooting themselves all the way to Terra Luna. While Yankees and Confederates were bleeding themselves dry across the farms, fields, and forests of the U.S., Jules was sitting at a desk in France, figuring out how Man could reach Space. From The Earth To The Moon was published in 1865, the same year America's Civil War came to a close. From nuclear submarines to men landing on the Moon, Verne envisioned a future that smacked of impossibility. As seen in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, Verne was exploring technology that was a hundred years in the making. The Confederacy's been defeated, and in the glow of post-Civil War America, there are new challenges to undertake.like conquering the Moon.

From the earth to the moon 1865