Smokin' Rockets: The Romance of Technology in American Film, Radio and Television, 1945-1962 [Paperback]

Patrick Lucanio (Author), Gary Coville (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 078641233X | ISBN-13: 978-0786412334 | Publication Date: June 2002

Science and technology had a significant influence on American culture and thought in the years immediately following World War II. The new wonders of science and the threat of the Soviet Union as a powerful new enemy made science fiction a popular genre in radio, television, and film. Mutant creatures spawned by radioactive energy and intergalactic dictators unleashing horrific weapons upon Earth were characteristic of science fiction at the time and served as warnings to the very real dangers posed by the atomic age.

This work examines science and science fiction in American culture beginning in the year World War II ended and going to 1962, the year of John Glenn’s orbital flight and the Cuban Missile Crisis. The radio work of Arch Oboler and the significance of his "Rocket from Manhattan," which aired only one month after the dropping of the first atomic bomb and asked serious questions about the use of atomic energy, are examined. Other topics are the conflict between the free world and the Communist world in the context of science fiction plot lines, the dangers of science as shown in films like Godzilla, Them!, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and radio and television programs, the flying saucer phenomenon and the treatment of such stories in the media (with special attention given to the 1956 documentary UFO), the changing and more positive depictions of scientists, television programs like Flash Gordon and Space Patrol, the shift in the balance of world power due to the successful launching of Sputnik I by the Russians in 1957, the "end of the world" theme in science fiction, and the American journey into space.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Patrick Lucanio and Gary Coville are also the coauthors of Jack the Ripper (1999, $29.95) and American Science Fiction Television Series of the 1950s (1998, $49.95). Lucanio lives in Springfield, Oregon, and Coville lives in Dallas, Oregon.

Product Details

• Paperback: 268 pages
• Publisher: Mcfarland & Co Inc Pub (June 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 078641233X
• ISBN-13: 978-0786412334
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,219,767 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Links social/political changes to trends in science fiction, November 7, 2002

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Smokin' Rockets: The Romance of Technology in American Film, Radio and Television, 1945-1962 (Paperback)

How have science and technology been celebrated in American film, radio and TV from 1945-1962? Smokin' Rockets examines science and science fiction worlds in American culture from a scholarly standpoint; up to the Cuban missile crisis. Shifts in themes and presentation are studied in chapters that link social and political changes to trends in science fiction.