Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century

Science fiction is a cultural phenomenon. Its ideas and icons have permeated the imagery of cinema, television, rock music, and advertising; have come to dominate the world of play, from Ninja Turtles and transformer robots to comics and computer games; and have helped to create religions (like scientology) and popular delusions (like flying saucers). And for readers of science fiction it offers a different way of looking at the world, and a sense of community and of purpose.

Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century is the first attempt to look beyond science fiction as a series of texts and authors, and to try to see it for what it is: a peculiarly twentieth-century genre. It is, as Edward James explains, a genre which endeavors to make sense of the effects of science and technology on our society, and a genre which by imagining other worlds allows us to view our own with greater detachment and perspective.

James traces science fiction from 1895, the year of H.G. Wells's The Time Machine, through to its development as a distinct genre. He discusses the reasons behind the American domination of the field, which originated with John W. Campbell, Jr., the great editor of Astounding, and the first publisher of Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein. James goes on to look at the more recent emergence of a highly successful science fiction industry, and the way in which film, televsion, computer games, and children's toys have made science fiction ideas and imagery an important part of twentieth century culture.

From H.G. Wells's The Time Machine and Grant Allen's The British Barbarians to Cyperpunk and beyond, Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century illuminates a rapidly evolving genre that includes everything from metaphysical philosophy to invading tomatoes.