The Martian Chronicles
By Ray Bradbury
First published in 1950
Grade: A+

Written in 1949 from a series of short stories about Mars, Ray Bradbury wrote The Martian Chronicles as a novel both on the advice of a publisher and because of his own desire "to prevent the future" after the development of nuclear weapons. Readers will find it relevant in today's climate.

Covering the period from 1999 to 2026, the book explores the mostly boorish colonization of Mars by humans. A series of expeditions from Earth ends with most Martians being wiped out by Chickenpox.

The Martian Chronicles stands the test of time and delivers on multiple universal themes -- including offering a new metaphor for Westward expansion; colonization, displacement and respect for existing civilizations or the unseeing masses; and exploitation vs. conservation; and, most of all, profound loneliness.

Bradbury's writing is stripped down, poetic and unassuming. The reader learns the both eerie and poignant stories of various characters as well as about their sometimes crushing interactions with the few surviving Martians, who can appear as human to avoid detection; Martians are both telepathic and more advanced than humans in many respects but are not above human emotions such as jealousy, and -- at least during the initial expeditions from Earth -- an instinct toward self-preservation by any means necessary.

The Martians are beautiful, sensitive, sympathetic characters.

The book ultimately fixes on the consequences of what is known as the "Big War": an all-out nuclear cataclysm that sets Earth on fire, decimating the planet and rendering all living things there extinct. Bradbury's description of the view of Earth from Mars during the holocaust is as well done as it is unsettling.

After the "Big War," Bradbury presents the idea of humans coexisting on Mars with the few remaining Martians -- this at the invitation of the Martians themselves; one family will come to understand the meaning of a "Million Year Picnic."

It is worth noting that Bradbury thought the reality on Earth turned out better than he expected in the decades after the introduction of the atomic bomb.

Jeanie Straub, Parker Library
jstraub@dclibraries.org
Douglas County Libraries
douglascountylibraries.org