Class Description
Named after the Roman god of war, Mars has been a subject of human fascination for centuries, from Galileo up to the Opportunity rover and its “death” in 2018.
Using film clips, reading excerpts from novels, and listening to music, we will explore Mars’ place in the popular imagination, from Martian “canals” to its depiction in literature and film, including the fiction of Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Heinlein, and Ray Bradbury. We will end with a discussion of H. G. Wells’ classic 1898 novel The War of the Worlds and the famous 1938 radio adaptation by Orson Welles that led to mass hysteria. Throughout the course, we will consider other aspects of Martian pop culture, from Jetan (aka Martian chess) to Mars Attacks trading cards. Why does Mars still matter to so many people and what does it say about us?
June Sawyers is a writer and editor as well as a longtime Mars aficionado and member of the Mars Society.
Materials List
Required
- Matthew Shindell, For the Love of Mars: A Human History of the Red Planet. University of Chicago Press, 2024. ISBN: 9780226836775
- Instructor-Distributed Materials
Cost and Registration
4 Sessions, $225 ($202 for Newberry members, seniors, and students). Learn about becoming a member.
We now offer our classes at three different price options: Regular ($225), Community Supported ($215), and Sponsor ($235). Following the models of other institutions, we want to ensure that our classes are accessible to a wider audience while continuing to support our instructors. You may choose the price that best fits your situation when registering through Learning Stream.
To register multiple people for this class, please go through the course calendar in Learning Stream, our registration platform. When you select the course and register, you’ll be prompted to add another registrant.
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