Race in American Science Fiction

Lavender III, Isiah. Race in American Science Fiction. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2011.

Reviewed by Christy Tidwell, SFRA Review #299 (Winter 2012): pp. 17-18, who finds Lavender's topic clearly worthy but has issues with how he handles the science in science fiction, in part conflating science with social Darwinism, and "When he does engage with science more broadly, his outlook is overwhelmingly negative. He writes that 'our technological advances seem to continually divide humanity along fault lines of various differences, including race' (97) and reveals a fear that 'humanity could be victimized by its reliance on technology in the future' (196)" (Tidwell, p.18).[1]

See most immediately for discussions of R. M. Williams's "Robot's Return," P. K. Dick's "The Electric Ant," S. Bulter's Erewhon. H. G. Wells's The Time Machine, I. Asimov's I, Robot, and W. Gibson's Neuromancer.

RDE, finishing, 9Jun21