ASTOUNDING: JOHN W. CAMPBELL, ISAAC ASMIOV, ROBERT A. HEINLEIN, L. RON HUBBARD, AND THE GOLDEN AGE OF SCIENCE FICTION by Alec Nevala-Lee. (Dey Street Books, October 2018) Hardcover, 544 pages. ISBN# 006257194X / 9780062571946 Hugo Award 2019 Nominee for Best Related Work, Locus Award 2019 Nominee For Non-Fiction.
Summary from the Goodreads website . . . .
“[Astounding] is a major work of popular culture scholarship that science fiction fans will devour.” — Publishers Weekly
"Alec Nevala-Lee has brilliantly recreated the era. . . . A remarkable work of literary history." — Robert Silverberg
"Science fiction has been awaiting this history/biography for more than half a century. . . . Here it is. This is the most important historical and critical work my field has ever seen. Alec Nevala-Lee’s superb scholarship and insight have made the seemingly impossible a radiant and irreplaceable gift."—Barry N. Malzberg, author of Beyond Apollo
Astounding is the landmark account of the extraordinary partnership between four controversial writers—John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, and L. Ron Hubbard—who set off a revolution in science fiction and forever changed our world.
This remarkable cultural narrative centers on the figure of John W. Campbell, Jr., whom Asimov called “the most powerful force in science fiction ever.” Campbell, who has never been the subject of a biography until now, was both a visionary author—he wrote the story that was later filmed as The Thing—and the editor of the groundbreaking magazine best known as Astounding Science Fiction, in which he discovered countless legendary writers and published classic works ranging from the I, Robot series to Dune.
Over a period of more than thirty years, from the rise of the pulps to the debut of Star Trek, he dominated the genre, and his three closest collaborators reached unimaginable heights. Asimov became the most prolific author in American history; Heinlein emerged as the leading science fiction writer of his generation with the novels Starship Troopers and Stranger in a Strange Land; and Hubbard achieved lasting fame—and infamy—as the founder of the Church of Scientology.
Drawing on unexplored archives, thousands of unpublished letters, and dozens of interviews, Alec Nevala-Lee offers a riveting portrait of this circle of authors, their work, and their tumultuous private lives. With unprecedented scope, drama, and detail, Astounding describes how fan culture was born in the depths of the Great Depression; follows these four friends and rivals through World War II and the dawn of the atomic era; and honors such exceptional women as Doña Campbell and Leslyn Heinlein, whose pivotal roles in the history of the genre have gone largely unacknowledged.
For the first time, it reveals the startling extent of Campbell’s influence on the ideas that evolved into Scientology, which prompted Asimov to observe: “I knew Campbell and I knew Hubbard, and no movement can have two Messiahs.” It looks unsparingly at the tragic final act that estranged the others from Campbell, bringing the golden age of science fiction to a close, and it illuminates how their complicated legacy continues to shape the imaginations of millions and our vision of the future itself.
My four-star review on the Goodreads website . . . . .
What can I say about this that isn't already thoroughly covered in that Goodreads summary? I can think of a couple of things:
1) Alec Nevala-Lee is a meticulous researcher who seems to have left no fact uncovered. His accounting of the rise of contemporary American science fiction from it's pulp magazine roots to cementing it's foundation in the '40's and '50's and building on that in the '60's and '70's until paving the way for Star Wars, etc and the plethora of choices available today is detailed in clear, concise prose.
2) This is the literary history of a genre of fiction that took off during the atomic age, all detailed here with interesting stories of how these authors participated in the war effort, both in research and in the field. Their experiences came to influence their fictional ideas and creations.
3) Beyond the history of Astounding (now Analog) magazine, that acted as a garden bed for developing writers, Nevala-Lee includes a complete biography of the four pillars of that era: editor/writer Campbell, and writers Asimov, Heinlein and Hubbard.
4) Nevala-Lee doesn't hold back in his warts-and-all accounting of the lives of these four pioneers, and reveals that every single one of them was imperfect, some with some flaws that hampered their growth and popularity. Heinlein and Asimov come off as a bit more restrained versus Campbell and Hubbard (the wackiest one of the bunch), yet both of them had some serious issues.
5) If you're curious about the origins of Diabetics and Scientology, that development is detailed here - - the product of Hubbard's experimentation - - as well as how he worked hard to pull the others into his sphere of influence (and only really snagged Campbell).
6) I'm amazed at how much background work and research Nevala-Lee did in compiling this history. Happily, rather than insert a mountain of numerical footnotes on every page he just includes every single one of them in a page-by-page format in the Notes Section at the back of the book that totals 84 pages of content. Likewise, the bibliography of sources used by Nevala-Lee numbers another nine pages.
7) If you grew up reading these authors, as I did, or are just curious about the founding fathers of American science fiction this book will tell you everything about their background and beginnings you wanted to know.
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