Will the settlement of Mars prove much different from the
settlement of the West? Look to science fiction master Kim Stanley
Robinson for fascinating ideas; then turn to historian Carl Abbott
for further insights.
Over the last half-century, science fiction has witnessed
increasing complexity in its treatments of future homesteading,
community building, mining, and other themes familiar to western
historians. Considering these common threads, this is the first
book to explore the ways that science fiction writers have drawn
directly on narratives of the American West to frame their visions
of the future.
Abbott offers a fruitful new way to read science fiction, one
that also greatly enriches our understanding of western history and
its impact on our collective imagination. Detailing the overlap of
science fiction and western fiction-especially relating to their
mutual interest in and concerns about frontier expansionism-he
reveals an unsuspected common ground that informs the writings of
both camps.
Reviewing the work of many Hugo and Nebula Award winners, as
well as drawing upon popular film and television series (like the
Buck Rogers serials), Abbott's study journeys across the far
reaches of science fiction's universe. His cast of notables ranges
from venerable masters like Robert Heinlein and Fritz Lieber to
new-wave feminist Ursula Le Guin and cyberpunk pioneer William
Gibson; their settings are as diverse as the near-future West of
Octavia Butler and the entrancing extraterrestrial visions of
Pamela Sargent, Jonathan Lethem, and C. J. Cherryh.
Both enlightening and energizing, Abbott's study deftly shows us
how the ways we remember the past greatly influence our ability to
imagine multiple futures-in distant universes that appear very
strange and yet utterly familiar. "Frontiers Past and Future"
boldly goes where no historian has gone before and rewards us with
new insights into our probable pasts and possible futures.
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