Steam Man of the Prairies

In 1868 America, a teenage boy named Johnny Brainerd builds a twelve-foot steam-powered man from brass and iron, straps himself inside its chest, and walks across the prairie on adventures. One of the first science fiction novels ever written, Edward S. Ellis's bizarre and wonderful tale captures a young nation's faith in invention and progress. When two travelers encounter this impossible colossus striding across the plains, they witness American ingenuity taken to its logical extreme. The Steam Man of the Prairies is a relic of an America that believed the future belonged to bold inventors, and that a boy could dream of building a mechanical giant and make readers believe it could happen.