A History of Science Fiction

[Tanstaafl]

New member here! I have an assignment in my AP Literature class to study an artist and musician of my choice. I chose Robert A. Heinlein and Rush. One of the first pieces of this assignment is to study the historical background and time period my author was in. I was wondering if anyone here had any recommendations as far as books on the history of science fiction? Specifically, I would like to focus in on the golden age and Heinlein's time. Also, if anyone has specific recommendations to help with my research of Heinlein later that would be welcome too.

Thanks, hope to become an active user of this forum soon. I love science fiction and forums so this should be a great place.

 

[j d worthington]

I have moved this over to General Book Discussions, as Book Search is generally for a specific title.

On the query posted... you might want to look at this site concerning Heinlein:

Heinlein Society - Official Robert Anson Heinlein Estate Endorsed Website

It will give several suggestions on resources where he is concerned. Personally, despite the official Heinlein site's reservations, I found Leon Stover's book on Heinlein (part of the Twayne's United States Authors Series) to be quite interesting, while Panshin's Heinlein in Dimension I found to be somewhat less useful, though I would still recommend it as an example of what Heinlein criticism was for a very long time (and, in many areas, it is still like this). Joseph Olander and Harry Martin Greenberg's anthology of critical essays on Heinlein is... very disappointing, and often simply bad criticism. However, Jack Williamson's essay on Heinlein's juveniles is the best I've come across on that topic, and well worth looking up.

General histories of sf are numerous, as are more general sf reference books. Among those I would recommend would be Brian W. Aldiss' Trillion Year Spree and Lester del Rey's The World of Science Fiction, 1926-1976: The History of a Subculture; The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, by John Clute and Peter Nicholls; and, if you can find it, Harry Warner Jr.'s All Our Yesterdays: An Informal History of Science Fiction Fandom in the Forties (a period when Heinlein had more of a tie to fandom than he would have later in his career, as I recall). I would also suggest getting a copy of Heinlein's Grumbles from the Grave, which is a collection of his letters, often discussing various aspects of his career.

You might also want to look at the references given here:

History of science fiction - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Tanstaafl]

Thanks for moving it, I see why. And double thanks for all of the recommendations! I'll definitely look into those books.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

It's also useful to gain a general grounding of the history of the genre from books like Trillion Year Spree by Brian Aldiss (which can be quite subjective at times, like the best such books) and The Encyclopedia Of Science Fiction by John Clute and Peter Nicholls. Asimov's memoirs touch upon the early days of SF fandom and writing in some detail and have a few things to say about Heinlein as well.

 

[AE35Unit]

Some good recommendations there! Also look out for a film from 1950 called Destination Moon. It was based on a Heinlein story and is to Heinlein what 2001 is to Clarke. Also a newer film called the Puppet Masters based on the novella of the same name.

 

[Omphalos]

Advent publishers still sells two books about Heinlein, one by Alexi Panshin that I personally loved called Heinlein in Dimension (more on Heinlein can be found in Panshin's SF in Dimension), and another one that I have not finished reading yet. You can find them here, but I find its easier and cheaper to buy from Advent directly.