271 pgs, 1996, The University of Arizona Press
ISBN 978-0816516414

With at least ten Mars missions planned from 1996-2003, and manned expeditions expected to follow, the planet will be in the headlines often in coming years. Sheehan's well-documented, interest-sparking book will be useful for making sense of the news. Amateur astronomer and psychiatrist Sheehan traces our fascination with the big red neighbor chronologically through telescopic observations and furious debates about canals to recent theories and discoveries made by unmanned spacecraft. The text is enhanced throughout with 22 figures and supplemented with a selected bibliography, an alphabetized subject index, and a section of annotations for each chapter.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Motions of Mars
2. Pioneers
3. "A Situation Similar to Ours"
4. Areographers
5. 1877
6. Confirmations and Controversies
7. Lowell
8. How the Eye Interprets
9. Opposition 1909
10. The Lingering Romance
11. Spacecraft to Mars
12. Mariner 9
13. Vikings - and Beyond
14. The Hurtling Moons of Mars
15. Observing Mars
    
    Appendix 1. Oppositions of Mars, 1901-2035
    Appendix 2. Perihelic Oppositions of Mars, 1608-2035
    Appendix 3. Table of Data for the Planet Mars
    Appendix 4. The Satellites of Mars