Frontiers past and future : science fiction and the American West

Resource Information

The work Frontiers past and future : science fiction and the American West represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in University of Missouri Libraries. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Frontiers past and future : science fiction and the American West

Title remainder

science fiction and the American West

Statement of responsibility

Carl Abbott

Creator

• Abbott, Carl, 1944-

Subject

• American fiction -- West (U.S.) -- History and criticism
• Criticism, interpretation, etc
• Frontier and pioneer life in literature
• Literature and history -- West (U.S.)
• Alternative histories (Fiction), American -- History and criticism
• West (U.S.) -- In literature
• Western stories -- History and criticism
• Science fiction, American -- History and criticism

Genre

• Criticism, interpretation, etc

Language

eng

Summary

• "Will the settlement of Mars prove much different from the settlement of the West? Look to science fiction master Kim Stanley Robinson for 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."
• "Abbott's study 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."--Jacket

Cataloging source

DLC

Dewey number

813/.0876209

Government publication

government publication of a state province territory dependency etc

Index

index present

LC call number

PS374.S35

LC item number

A23 2006

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography