Ray Bradbury was one of the most influential and successful science fiction/fantasy writers of the United States (Badertscher 1). Most of his work was in the form of novels and short stories, resulting in the publication of close to 600 short stories and roughly 30 books (“Ray Bradbury Biography”). Bradbury, being of Unitarian Universalist beliefs, was mostly concerned with topics of religion, good versus evil, and the emphasis of love in the face of evil (Badertscher 1). Bradbury is an extremely decorated author, and the following list is far from comprehensive. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts from U.S. President George Bush in 2004, received a medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Literature by the National Book Awards in 2000, won an Emmy Award for his teleplay of The Halloween Tree, won the Pulitzer Prize in 2004, and granted the Grand Master award from the Science Fiction Writers of America (“About Ray Bradbury”; Badertscher 1; “Ray Bradbury Biography”). As many of Bradbury’s stories take place in Space, it was only fitting that he had a lunar crater (“Dandelion Crater”) named in honor of one of his books (“Dandelion Wine”) …show more content…
He wrote and sold a joke to comedian George Burns, for his comedy radio show “The Burns and Allen Show” (“Ray Bradbury Biography”). In 1938, Bradbury graduated from high school, but due to the Great Depression he was unable to pay for college (Badertscher 1). Instead, he elected to visit his library three days a week for ten years to educate himself (“Ray Bradbury Biography”). In his later years, it is evident that Bradbury did not believe in the American education system. He believed that students should not listen to what their teachers tell them, rather, they should go to the library to educate and find themselves (Feitelberg