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American Science Fiction: Nine Classic Novels of the 1950s
Contains:
American Science Fiction: Four Classic Novels 1953—1956
Frederik Pohl & C. M. Kornbluth / The Space Merchants
Theodore Sturgeon / More Than Human
Leigh Brackett / The Long Tomorrow
Richard Matheson / The Shrinking Man
978-1-59853-158-9
American Science Fiction: Five Classic Novels 1956—1958
Robert Heinlein / Double Star
Alfred Bester / The Stars My Destination
James Blish / A Case of Conscience
Algis Budrys / Who?
Fritz Leiber / The Big Time
978-159853-159-6
Following its acclaimed three-volume edition of the novels of science fiction master Philip K. Dick, The Library of America now presents a two-volume anthology of nine groundbreaking works from the golden age of the modern science fiction novel. Long unnoticed or dismissed by the literary establishment, these “outsider” novels have gradually been recognized as American classics. Here are genre-defining works by such masters as Robert Heinlein, Richard Matheson, James Blish, and Alfred Bester. The themes range from time travel (Fritz Leiber’s The Big Time) to post-apocalyptic survival (Leigh Brackett’s The Long Tomorrow), from the prospect of a future dominated by multinational advertising agencies (Pohl and Kornbluth’s The Space Merchants) to the very nature of human identity in a technological age (Theodore Sturgeon’s More Than Human and Algis Budrys’s Who?). The range of styles is equally diverse, by turns satiric, adventurous, incisive, and hauntingly lyrical. Grappling in fresh ways with a world in rapid transformation, these visionary novels opened new imaginative territory in American writing.
American Science Fiction: Four Classic Novels 1953—1956
Frederik Pohl & C. M. Kornbluth / The Space Merchants
Theodore Sturgeon / More Than Human
Leigh Brackett / The Long Tomorrow
Richard Matheson / The Shrinking Man
978-1-59853-158-9
American Science Fiction: Five Classic Novels 1956—1958
Robert Heinlein / Double Star
Alfred Bester / The Stars My Destination
James Blish / A Case of Conscience
Algis Budrys / Who?
Fritz Leiber / The Big Time
978-159853-159-6
Following its acclaimed three-volume edition of the novels of science fiction master Philip K. Dick, The Library of America now presents a two-volume anthology of nine groundbreaking works from the golden age of the modern science fiction novel. Long unnoticed or dismissed by the literary establishment, these “outsider” novels have gradually been recognized as American classics. Here are genre-defining works by such masters as Robert Heinlein, Richard Matheson, James Blish, and Alfred Bester. The themes range from time travel (Fritz Leiber’s The Big Time) to post-apocalyptic survival (Leigh Brackett’s The Long Tomorrow), from the prospect of a future dominated by multinational advertising agencies (Pohl and Kornbluth’s The Space Merchants) to the very nature of human identity in a technological age (Theodore Sturgeon’s More Than Human and Algis Budrys’s Who?). The range of styles is equally diverse, by turns satiric, adventurous, incisive, and hauntingly lyrical. Grappling in fresh ways with a world in rapid transformation, these visionary novels opened new imaginative territory in American writing.
1750 pages, Hardcover
First published September 27, 2012
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218 people want to read
About the author
Gary K. Wolfe
34 books44 followersGary K. Wolfe is Emeritus Professor of Humanities at Roosevelt University and the author, most recently, of Evaporating Genres: Essays on Fantastic Literature and Sightings: Reviews 2002–2006. He writes regular review columns for Locus magazine and the Chicago Tribune, and co-hosts with Jonathan Strahan the Hugo-nominated Coode Street Podcast.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 15, 2015
There are three novels in this collection I couldn't get independently, so I'll have to review each here:
The Long Tomorrow (3 stars):
A story about the aftermath of nuclear war where small communities are self-supporting and cities are outlawed. The characters were mostly likable and believable, and I enjoyed a lot of their interactions. It was a decent story, except the ending didn't fit and washed out a lot of the meaning.
Who? (3 stars):
A cold-war era story that includes cybernetics: what happens if an Allied scientist is "rescued" by Soviets after a laboratory explosion and returned with a metal head, chest, and arm? How do you tell if it's really the original scientist, and if so whether or not he's been turned or booby trapped? The premise was quite interesting but the story eventually ran out of steam, until the author threw a bit of a monkey wrench in the works that didn't pan out anyway.
The Big Time (2 stars):
This was by far the worst book of the set, and since it is the last one and the shortest one I'm tempted to think it was included only because it fit the page count. The premise is neat: two sides fighting a war when both sides can time travel, so our timeline is a constantly shifting set for agents from both sides to fight or undermine each other. Unfortunately, we get to see almost none of this happen. The setting is a pocket outside the normal time-space continuum where agents from one side go to heal and rest after missions. I never really understood who each of the characters were because the history is kind of alternate and the writing is incomprehensible and very little is explained. The only reason this got more than one star is because there was an actual plot that could be followed if you put in the effort to plow through the writing.
So the overall rating for this series will be an arithmetic mean of the ratings for the books:
4.5 stars: Double Star, The Space Merchants
4 stars: The Shrinking Man, More Than Human
3.5 stars: The Stars My Destination, The Long Tomorrow, Who?
2.5 stars: A Case of Conscience
1.5 stars: The Big Time
Overall rating: exactly 3.5 stars (interesting because I wrote down all those ratings before seeing the average). Because most of the stories were good I'll round it up to four.
The Long Tomorrow (3 stars):
A story about the aftermath of nuclear war where small communities are self-supporting and cities are outlawed. The characters were mostly likable and believable, and I enjoyed a lot of their interactions. It was a decent story, except the ending didn't fit and washed out a lot of the meaning.
Who? (3 stars):
A cold-war era story that includes cybernetics: what happens if an Allied scientist is "rescued" by Soviets after a laboratory explosion and returned with a metal head, chest, and arm? How do you tell if it's really the original scientist, and if so whether or not he's been turned or booby trapped? The premise was quite interesting but the story eventually ran out of steam, until the author threw a bit of a monkey wrench in the works that didn't pan out anyway.
The Big Time (2 stars):
This was by far the worst book of the set, and since it is the last one and the shortest one I'm tempted to think it was included only because it fit the page count. The premise is neat: two sides fighting a war when both sides can time travel, so our timeline is a constantly shifting set for agents from both sides to fight or undermine each other. Unfortunately, we get to see almost none of this happen. The setting is a pocket outside the normal time-space continuum where agents from one side go to heal and rest after missions. I never really understood who each of the characters were because the history is kind of alternate and the writing is incomprehensible and very little is explained. The only reason this got more than one star is because there was an actual plot that could be followed if you put in the effort to plow through the writing.
So the overall rating for this series will be an arithmetic mean of the ratings for the books:
4.5 stars: Double Star, The Space Merchants
4 stars: The Shrinking Man, More Than Human
3.5 stars: The Stars My Destination, The Long Tomorrow, Who?
2.5 stars: A Case of Conscience
1.5 stars: The Big Time
Overall rating: exactly 3.5 stars (interesting because I wrote down all those ratings before seeing the average). Because most of the stories were good I'll round it up to four.
March 3, 2019
Own the Best of American Sci-Fi from Library of America
One of the best ways to own among the best of American writing is to explore offerings from the Library of America. Each volume includes annotated texts, biographies of the authors, and additional scholarship. This outstanding boxed set includes:
Volume I: 1953-1956
The Space Merchants, by Frederik Polh ad C. M. Kornbluth: A dystopian satire of consumerism run amok, in which advertising is not only a profession but the de facto government.
More Than Human, by Theodore Sturgeon: Imagines the evolution of a new species of humanity, Homo Gestalt, and how it gains the key to survival, a conscious.
The Long Tomorrow, by Leigh Backett: Among the first meditations on the aftermath of nuclear holocaust, in which humans resort to primitive living, except for a handful of scientists in a mythical city.
The Shrinking Man, by Richard Matheson: The novel that birthed the movie cult classic, in which a man shrinks down to walk among the most basic elements.
Volume II: 1956-1958
Double Star, by Robert A. Heinlein: Follows the exploits of a near do well thespian as he assumes the role of a lifetime that lasts a lifetime.
The Stars My Destination, by Alfred Bester: About a man driven to the ends of the solar system, and ultimately beyond, by his thirst for revenge, loosely patterned after Dumas’ The Count of Monte Christo.
A Case of Conscious, by James Blish: In the future, a commission of humans confront the issue of morality without god on the planet Lithia, and the effect it would have on Earth society.
Who?, by Algis Budry: A mash up of Cold War espionage, sci-fi, and alternative history that has a man questioning his very identity.
The Big Time, by Fritz Leiber: As much a philosophical query into the nature of life, the effects of perpetual war, external life, love, and cynicism about pretty much everything, as it is about time travel and the disruption of the time line.
Fans of science fiction will want to add this boxset to their collection.
One of the best ways to own among the best of American writing is to explore offerings from the Library of America. Each volume includes annotated texts, biographies of the authors, and additional scholarship. This outstanding boxed set includes:
Volume I: 1953-1956
The Space Merchants, by Frederik Polh ad C. M. Kornbluth: A dystopian satire of consumerism run amok, in which advertising is not only a profession but the de facto government.
More Than Human, by Theodore Sturgeon: Imagines the evolution of a new species of humanity, Homo Gestalt, and how it gains the key to survival, a conscious.
The Long Tomorrow, by Leigh Backett: Among the first meditations on the aftermath of nuclear holocaust, in which humans resort to primitive living, except for a handful of scientists in a mythical city.
The Shrinking Man, by Richard Matheson: The novel that birthed the movie cult classic, in which a man shrinks down to walk among the most basic elements.
Volume II: 1956-1958
Double Star, by Robert A. Heinlein: Follows the exploits of a near do well thespian as he assumes the role of a lifetime that lasts a lifetime.
The Stars My Destination, by Alfred Bester: About a man driven to the ends of the solar system, and ultimately beyond, by his thirst for revenge, loosely patterned after Dumas’ The Count of Monte Christo.
A Case of Conscious, by James Blish: In the future, a commission of humans confront the issue of morality without god on the planet Lithia, and the effect it would have on Earth society.
Who?, by Algis Budry: A mash up of Cold War espionage, sci-fi, and alternative history that has a man questioning his very identity.
The Big Time, by Fritz Leiber: As much a philosophical query into the nature of life, the effects of perpetual war, external life, love, and cynicism about pretty much everything, as it is about time travel and the disruption of the time line.
Fans of science fiction will want to add this boxset to their collection.
April 20, 2022
Looked at from a suitable angle, this could be considered the first half of a science fiction anthology, the second half being the two volumes reprinting novels of the 1960s. There's a heritage of short fiction anthologies in sci-fi, but the costs of printing books have rendered anthologies of novels a much rarer phenomenon. The 19 novels of this sequence are certainly among the very best of cold war American sci-fi, and suggest it is erroneous to consider cold war sci-fi to have been primarily a short fiction genre. Wolfe has assembled what I would consider a nominee for best sf anthology ever.
Suitable purchase for sci-fi fans who want a more portable possibly less expensive way to possess all these novels in boards, and for those who want a sampling of the best sci-fi of the era at a reasonable cost, and who don't have time to read everything to find the gems.
Suitable purchase for sci-fi fans who want a more portable possibly less expensive way to possess all these novels in boards, and for those who want a sampling of the best sci-fi of the era at a reasonable cost, and who don't have time to read everything to find the gems.
June 4, 2020
An excellent collection of vintage sci-fi from the folks at Library of America! I am impressed by both the content and the physical package itself: two handsome hard-cover volumes in a sturdy cardboard box. The set contains nine complete novels. As might be expected, I didn’t enjoy them all equally, but that’s not to say they aren’t all of high quality—just a matter of personal preference. I won’t tell you which ones were my least favorite, but I will say that I particularly enjoyed these:
The Long Tomorrow by Leigh Brackett
Double Star by Robert Heinlein
Who? by Algis Budrys
The Long Tomorrow by Leigh Brackett
Double Star by Robert Heinlein
Who? by Algis Budrys
April 16, 2014
Wonderful Classic Science Fiction. Recommend to any scifi fan.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews