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The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury (1946)

Bradbury's novel tells the story of the human colonization of Mars. This story is told through a series of short stories that range from less than a page to twenty or so pages in length. Bradbury covers a lot of ground that would be familiar to a student of American history, especially our Western Expansion. We see stories about the first military expeditions to Mars, evangelizing to Martians, and the first glimpses of a human-martian society that is completely independent from Earth.

Bradbury's writing style is fantastic, ignoring the fact that the story takes place from the years 2000 to 2006, it feels as fresh as anything that I have read in my Contemporary Lit and Modern Fiction classes. He also uses humor more than any other author of science fiction that I have read.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in reading a book by one of the so called "Greats" of science fiction.