Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century

Literature & Fiction

James, Edward

History & Criticism

Oxford University Press

Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century is the first book to challenge the traditional approach to science fiction as a series of texts and authors. Science fiction is identified as a cultural phenomenon whose ideas and imagery, through books, films, television, computer games, and children's toys, have become part of the everyday language of the late twentieth century. Edward James traces the development of science fiction as a distinct genre from 1895, the year of publication of H. G. Wells's The Time Machine, through the growing American domination of the field in the 1930s and 1940s, to the emergence of cyberpunk in the 1980s. A peculiarly twentieth-century genre, science fiction has tried to make sense of the rapidity of technological change and the impact which science and technology have made on our society. By imagining other worlds and possible futures, the genre allows us to view our present-day situation with greater detachment and perspective.

Dramas & Plays

Visigothic Spain: New Approaches

History

Europe

Lois McMaster Bujold (Modern Masters of Science Fiction)

Readers have awarded Lois McMaster Bujold four Hugo Awards for Best Novel, a number matched only by Robert Heinlein. Her Vorkosigan series redefined space opera with its emotional depth and explorations of themes such as bias against the disabled, economic exploitation, and the role of women in society. Acclaimed science fiction scholar Edward James traces Bujold's career, showing how Bujold emerged from fanzine culture to win devoted male and female readers despite working in genres--military SF, space opera--perceived as solely by and for males. Devoted to old-school ideas such as faith in humanity and the desire to probe and do good in the universe, Bujold simultaneously subverted genre conventions and experimented with forms that led her in bold creative directions. As James shows, her iconic hero Miles Vorkosigan--unimposing, physically impaired, self-conscious to a fault--embodied Bujold's thematic concerns. The sheer humanity of her characters, meanwhile, gained her a legion of fans eager to provide her with feedback, expand her vision through fan fiction, and follow her into fantasy.

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

University of Illinois Press

Swans Reflecting Elephants: My Early Years

Littlehampton Book Services Lt

In a departure from traditional histories of France, Edward James does not concentrate solely on the history of the monarchy, but examines the five centuries which followed the collapse of the Roman Empire in the fifth century.

The Origins of France: From Clovis to the Capetians

St.Martin's Press

The Origins of France (New Studies in Medieval History, 1)

Americas

Red Globe Press

This survey of medieval Britain presents the events comprising the two great invasions from Continental Europe as a coherent narrative. Unique both for its broad historical perspective and for its wide geographic coverage, Edward James’ all-encompassing history spans the "long" millennium from the first century BC through the Norman Conquest and covers events across the whole of Britain, from Cornwall to the Shetlands, providing the European context for events in England while also examining the many ways Britain differed from the rest of Europe. Students of medieval Europe will find his book an invaluable synthesis.

Britain in the First Millennium (Britain and Europe)

Ancient Civilizations

Bloomsbury Academic

Ideal for undergraduates, this survey of medieval Britain is a coherent narrative of events between the two great invasions from continental Europe. It is unique both for its broad historical perspective and for its wide geographic coverage: it spans the "long" millennium from the first century BC through the Norman conquest and covers events across the whole of Britain, from Cornwall to the Shetlands. Edward James provides the European context for events in England while also examining the many ways Britain differed from the rest of Europe. Students of medieval Europe will find his book an invaluable synthesis.

Hodder Education Publishers

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Books by James, Edward