Science Fiction of the 20th Century : An Illustrated History (Unknown Binding)

by Frank M. Robinson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
As an "insider" history written by an sf practitioner, this volume lacks the detail of Brian Aldiss's Trillion Year Spree (LJ 11/15/86) and the provocative insight of Thomas M. Disch's The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of (LJ 4/15/98). It compensates by means of lapidary graphic design and a galaxy of prismatic magazine covers, book jackets, and film posters. In this respect, though, it faces competition from John Clute's more useful Science Fiction: The Illustrated Encyclopedia (DK, 1995). Over half of Robinson's history is devoted to U.S. genre magazines, supplemented by a brief chapter on their British counterparts. A mere two chapters encapsulate the history of genre book publishing, and the concluding chapter attempts to relate the history of genre films. Surprisingly, there are no television images. Robinson's accompanying prose is knowledgeable but freighted with a lifelong fan's nostalgia for yesteryear. A stellar gift for enthusiasts, but libraries should consider the other titles mentioned above.
-Neal Baker, Earlham Coll., Richmond, IN
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
The best thing about this sf history? It looks like a million bucks. Almost every page sports vintage magazine or paperback cover art (in later chapters, movie posters and stills) in eye-popping color that visually punches through page-filling stark white, deep black, or purple backdrops, some of which resemble construction blueprints--very astrodynamic. Robinson's text is less impressive. Instead of tracing the genre's literary developments, he recounts its commercial publishing history, from its beginnings in the fabled pulp magazines of the 1920s to its growth spurt in the digests of the 1950s to the rise of the paperback sf novel in the 1960s to the current state of affairs, in which movie and TV spin-offs account for a growing number of sf books. The chronicle's leading players are editors, such as Hugo Gernsback, Ray Palmer, John W. Campbell, and Donald A. Wollheim, and, later, filmmakers. Ironically, Robinson's workaday prose could have been further edited to reduce repetition and solecisms. When it gets tedious, go back to ogling the pictures. Ray Olson

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Product Details

• Unknown Binding: 256 pages
• Publisher: Collectors Press; Limited Edition of 2000 edition (October 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1888054298
• ISBN-13: 978-1888054293
• Product Dimensions: 13.4 x 10.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #645,564 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars visually great, slightly self-serving, February 1, 2000

By	dannharriss (Illinois) - See all my reviews

The book is a lavish, beautifully put-together work, with plenty of big colorful reproductions of classic pulp and contemporary cover art. There are a few mistakes (no, Cronenberg didn't direct the original Vincent Price version of 'The Fly'), but there's really one simple reason why I couldn't bring myself to give this book a 5-star recommendation. After having read it from cover to cover, there was a slight bad taste left in my mouth. Why? Because the author/editor, James M. Robinson, seemed a bit too relentless in his attempts to establish his own reputation and history in the field. Now I've read a LOT of science fiction in my time, but before I picked up this book I'd never even heard of James Robinson. So I was surprised by how often I came across reproductions of his book covers and/or mentions of his work. And they weren't presented in any sort of a 'personal note' type of format, nor do the captions for the illustrations even identify that the person who wrote the book being shown is the same as the editor who chose to include the image in this history. Rather, in most cases, you'll see Robinson's work discussed from the same third-person perspective as the other important works that surround it. This even extends, in one case, to including the work of another minor author apparently because it affords the opportunity to mention the fact that they'd collaborated with Robinson on OTHER projects. A quick count reveals cover reproductions of three of Robinson's novels (i.e. ALL of his science-fiction novels - he wrote a couple of techno-thrillers as well), a reproduction of a movie poster for a film based on one of those novels, and about five other mentions of his work in the text. A few of these would be fine - and the reproduction of one of his self-produced fanzines from the 1940's is a nice piece of nostalgia that certainly establishes his love of the genre. But it really felt like Robinson is trying to present himself as one of the more significant contributors to the genre. Personally, I just don't feel that Frank M. Robinson's fiction should be discussed more often than the work of Poul Anderson, or Robert Bloch, or Hal Clement, or Lester Del Rey or (to move to the end of the alphabet) Jack Vance or Gene Wolfe or Roger Zelazny. (Strangely enough, if you look up Frank M. Robinson in the index at the back of the book, he's not even listed. (Perhaps to make comparisons like this one a bit harder to do? Or maybe it's just sloppy indexing - SPIDER Robinson isn't listed in the index either, yet he's mentioned at least three times in the body of the book). At any rate, it really IS a beautiful book, and if you love this stuff as much as I do then you won't be disappointed by the overall package. It's just too bad that an editor somewhere didn't make an attempt to curb the author's self-promotion a little bit.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A real feast for the eyes!, November 19, 1999

By	Icepick "sir-critic" (Castroville, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This is really a fun book to go through. Science-fiction illustration has gone through many changes in the 20th century, all of them interesting in their own ways. I particularly love the old pulp magazine covers and they are reproduced here in all their vivid glory. The many, many examples in this book look like they just came fresh off the presses. There's none of the dinginess or reflectivity you usually get from reproductions of older material. These illos look like the art as it was meant to be seen.

The design of this book also deserves a lot of praise. Every page was laid out with great taste and creativity. I've been through the book several times already and I keep discovering new things.

Bottom line: this is one great looking, entertaining book.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A knockout! A science-fiction book-lover's book., November 3, 1999

By A Customer

This is a captivating book. It's got hundreds and hundreds of high-quality reproductions of science fiction magazine covers, book covers and movie posters. Over and over again, particular artwork will remind you of the pleasure of reading that book, or the delight of seeing an imaginative magazine cover.

You'll probably "read" this one at least three times. First, you look at all the covers. Next, you go back and look at them more closely, this time reading the enligtening, well-written captions. Finally, you'll actually read the book.

Sure, if you know nothing about science fiction, you could probably use this book as a reference to clue you into more than a century of the history of the genre. But, I think it's really for readers who are already fans. For anyone who loves science fiction (or fantasy), this book will fill many evenings with joy, and inspire you to go back to your bookshelf and reread some of your favorites.