Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century

Rating:
Summary: A good short analysis and history of the genre
Review: -----------------------------------------------------------
I came across this book while browsing our county library system's online
catalog -- I'd never heard of it, or Mr. James, and from the pristine condition
of the library's copy, it hasn't attracted much local attention. Which is a
shame, since it's quite a good book. All this preliminary blather is because I
can't quite figure out how to review it.

Hmm. Well, it's good and I liked it (drumroll as your reviewer is
summarily ejected from the Professional Critics Bureau).

OK. Mr. James is a medievalist, a long-term SF reader and fan, and is the
editor of Foundation: The Review of Science Fiction, a UK academic
journal. He writes well, knows SF, doesn't drift off into lit-crit la-la land (or
at least not very often), and I learned some Neat Stuff and had a good time.
Better?

He writes that the book is "intended as an introduction to science fiction...
for those who know little about it." I can't imagine such a person reading
this book unless required to do so, and can only suppose that he was hoping
for textbook sales to college science-fiction classes. That such classes are now
pretty common is still mind-boggling, for me anyway.

So, if you like reading SF criticism, see if your library has a copy. Or -- heck --
live it up and drop a tenner at amazon.co.uk. I promise that Mr. James is at
least as amusing, and far more eloquent, than your present reviewer.

Happy reading!
Pete Tillman