The Cambridge History of Science Fiction

The first science fiction course in the American academy was held in the early 1950s. In the sixty years since, science fiction has become a recognized and established literary genre with a significant and growing body of scholarship. The Cambridge History of Science Fiction is a landmark volume as the first authoritative history of the genre. Over forty contributors with diverse and complementary specialties present a history of science fiction across national and genre boundaries, and trace its intellectual and creative roots in the philosophical and fantastic narratives of the ancient past. Science fiction as a literary genre is the central focus of the volume, but fundamental to its story is its non-literary cultural manifestations and influence. Coverage thus includes transmedia manifestations as an integral part of the genre's history, including not only short stories and novels, but also film, art, architecture, music, comics, and interactive media.

Dedication; Contributors; On not defining science fiction: an introduction Eric Carl Link and Gerry Canavan; Part I. Before the New Wave: 1. Science fiction before science fiction: ancient, medieval, and early modern science fiction Ryan Vu; 2. Interrelations: science fiction and the Gothic Roger Luckhurst; 3. European science fiction in the nineteenth century Terry Harpold; 4. Inventing new worlds: the age of manifestos and utopias Rhys Williams; 5. War machines and child geniuses: American Edisonades Nathaniel Williams; 6. Afrofuturism in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries W. Andrew Shephard; 7. Science fiction, modernism, and the avant-garde Paul March-Russell; 8. The Gernsback years: science fiction and the pups (1920s–30s) Brooks Landon; 9. Astounding stories: John W. Campbell and the Golden Age, 1938–50 Michael R. Page; 10. Science fiction in Continental Europe before World War Two Salvatore Proietti; 11. Rise of the Supermen: science fiction during World War II Andrew Pilsch; 12. Utopia …: science fiction in the 1950s and 1960s Malisa Kurtz; 13. … or bust: science fiction and the bomb (1945–60) Brent Ryan Bellamy; 14. Women in the Golden Age of science fiction Jane Donawerth; 15. Better living through chemistry: science fiction and consumerism in the Cold War Lee Konstantinou; 16. 'The Golden Age of science fiction is twelve': children's and young-adult science fiction into the 1980s Michael Levy; 17. Spectacular horizons: the birth of science fiction film, television, and radio, 1900–59 Sean Redmond; 18. Fandom and fan culture in the Golden Age and beyond Karen Hellekson; 19. Science fiction and its critics Rob Latham; Part II. The New Wave: 20. Riding the new wave Andrew M. Butler; 21. New wave science fiction and the counterculture Shannon Davies Mancus; 22. Science fiction film, television, and music during the new wave, 1960–80 Jeffrey Hicks; 23. Science fiction, gender, and sexuality in the new wave Lauren J. Lacey; 24. Shestidesyatniki: the conjunction of inner and outer space in Eastern European science fiction Larisa Mikhaylova; 25. Afrofuturism in the new wave era Mark Bould; 26. New wave science fiction and the Vietnam War David M. Higgins; 27. New wave science fiction and the dawn of the environmental movement Rebecca Evans; 28. Stagflation, new wave, and the death of the future Greg Conley; 29. Science fiction in the academy in the 1970s Ritch Calvin; Part III. After the New Wave: 30. The birth of the science fiction franchise Stefan Rabitsch and Michael Fuchs; 31. Science fiction and postmodernism (1980s–90s) Phillip E. Wegner; 32. Cyberpunk and post-cyberpunk Graham J. Murphy; 33. Science fiction film and television in the 1980s and 1990s Nicole de Fee; 34. 'Strangers to ourselves': gender and sexuality in recent science fiction Veronica Hollinger; 35. Contemporary science fiction and Afrofuturism Isiah Lavender, III; 36. Science fiction and the revenge of nature: environmentalism (1990s–2010s) Eric C. Otto; 37. Science fiction and the return of Empire: global capitalism, Tom Cruise, and the War on Terror (2000s–2010s) Dan Hassler-Forest; 38. Comic books from the 1980s to the 2010s Aaron Kashtan; 39. Video games and virtual lives: science fiction gaming (1980s–2010s) Pawel Frelik; 40. Twenty-first century Chinese science fiction on the rise: anti-authoritarianism and dreams of freedom Hua Li; 41. Ciencia ficcion/ficcao cientifica from Latin America Rachel Haywood Ferreira; 42. Science fiction and the Global South Hugh Charles O'Connell; 43. Science fiction film and television of the twenty-first century Sherryl Vint; 44. Dystopian futures and utopian presents in contemporary young adult science fiction Rebekah Sheldon; 45. Convergence culture: science fiction fandom today Paul Booth; 46. Theorizing science fiction: science fiction studies since 2000 John Rieder; Select bibliography; Index.

Gerry Canavan is an assistant professor of twentieth- and twenty-first-century literature in the Department of English at Marquette University. He is the co-editor, with Kim Stanley Robinson, of Green Planets: Ecology and Science Fiction (2014) and, with Eric Carl Link, of The Cambridge Companion to American Science Fiction (Cambridge, 2015). His first monograph is Octavia E. Butler (2016).
Eric Carl Link is Professor of American Literature and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Purdue University Fort Wayne. His many publications include The Vast and Terrible Drama: American Literary Naturalism in the Late Nineteenth Century (2004), Understanding Philip K. Dick (2009), and Crosscurrents: Readings in the Disciplines (2012). He is the editor or co-editor of numerous volumes, including The Cambridge Companion to American Science Fiction (co-edited with Gerry Canavan, Cambridge, 2015).