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.

LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation’s literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America’s best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.

“"Here's the heart of the heart of where those who take American science fiction seriously would want to begin -- the genre's equivalent of Hollywood's classical period, and the books subsequent creators like Thomas Pynchon and Stanley Kubrick used to bend their brains -- as well as a selection of novels as fresh and evocative as any hungry reader could hope to discover." -- - Jonathan Lethem”

"Here's the heart of the heart of where those who take American science fiction seriously would want to begin -- the genre's equivalent of Hollywood's classical period, and the books subsequent creators like Thomas Pynchon and Stanley Kubrick used to bend their brains -- as well as a selection of novels as fresh and evocative as any hungry reader could hope to discover."  — – Jonathan Lethem

GARY K. WOLFE, editor, is Professor of Humanities in Roosevelt University’s Evelyn T. Stone College of Professional Studies and the author, most recently, of Evaporating Genres: Essays on Fantastic Literature and Sightings: Reviews 2002–2006. He has received numerous awards for his critical writing including the British Science Fiction Association Award and the World Fantasy Award. He writes a monthly review column for Locus Magazine.

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