Future Wars
The Anticipations and the Fears
Distributed for Liverpool University Press
302 pages
|
6 x 9
|
© 2012
This timely book investigates fiction that speculates about wars likely to break out in the near or distant future. Ranging widely across periods and conflicts real and imagined, Future Wars explores the interplay between politics, literature, science fiction, and war in a range of classic texts. Individual essays look at Reagan’s infamous “Star Wars” project, nuclear fiction, Martian invasion, and the Pax Americana. The use of future war scenarios in military planning dates back to the nineteenth century, and Future Wars concludes with a US Army officer’s assessment of the continuing usefulness of future wars fiction.
Roger Luckhurst, Birkbeck, University of London
“Future Wars is a collection of rich, contextualized historical studies. It is a testament to the legacy of I. F. Clarke that the book consists of such strong, original, scholarly work.”
Contents
Contributors
Introduction
David Seed
1. Future-War Fiction: The First Main Phase, 1871–1900
I. F. Clarke
2. How America's Fictions of Future War Have Changed the World
H. Bruce Franklin
3. War Is Peace: Conscription and Mobilization in the Modern Utopia
Patrick Parrinder
4. From Invasion to Liberation: Alternative Visions of Mars, Planet of War
Robert Crossley
5. John Henry Palmer's The Invasion of New York, or, How Hawaii Was Annexed: Political Discourse and Emergent Mass Culture in 1897
John Rieder
6. John Wyndham's World War III and his Abandoned Fury of Creation Trilogy
David Ketterer
7. Prophesying Neocolonial Wars in 1950s American Science Fiction
Rob Latham
8. On the Beach: British Nuclear Fiction and the Spaces of Empire's End
Brian Baker
9. Adapting the Absurd Apocalypse: Eugene Burdick's and Harvey Wheeler's Fail-Safe and its Cinematic Progeny
Nicholas Ruddick
10. The Strategic Defence Initiative: A Utopian Fantasy
David Seed
11. When All Wars Are Done: The Transcendent Humanity of Iain M. Banks
Patricia Kerslake
12. 'The Benefit and the Handicap of Hindsight': Modelling Risk and Reassessing Future-War Fiction after 9/11-Induced Shift to a US National Security Strategy of Pre-emptive Attack
A. Michael Matin
13. The War after Next: Anticipating Future Conflict in the New Millennium
Antulio J. Echevarria II
The Writings of I. F. Clarke: A Checklist
Bibliography
Index
Introduction
David Seed
1. Future-War Fiction: The First Main Phase, 1871–1900
I. F. Clarke
2. How America's Fictions of Future War Have Changed the World
H. Bruce Franklin
3. War Is Peace: Conscription and Mobilization in the Modern Utopia
Patrick Parrinder
4. From Invasion to Liberation: Alternative Visions of Mars, Planet of War
Robert Crossley
5. John Henry Palmer's The Invasion of New York, or, How Hawaii Was Annexed: Political Discourse and Emergent Mass Culture in 1897
John Rieder
6. John Wyndham's World War III and his Abandoned Fury of Creation Trilogy
David Ketterer
7. Prophesying Neocolonial Wars in 1950s American Science Fiction
Rob Latham
8. On the Beach: British Nuclear Fiction and the Spaces of Empire's End
Brian Baker
9. Adapting the Absurd Apocalypse: Eugene Burdick's and Harvey Wheeler's Fail-Safe and its Cinematic Progeny
Nicholas Ruddick
10. The Strategic Defence Initiative: A Utopian Fantasy
David Seed
11. When All Wars Are Done: The Transcendent Humanity of Iain M. Banks
Patricia Kerslake
12. 'The Benefit and the Handicap of Hindsight': Modelling Risk and Reassessing Future-War Fiction after 9/11-Induced Shift to a US National Security Strategy of Pre-emptive Attack
A. Michael Matin
13. The War after Next: Anticipating Future Conflict in the New Millennium
Antulio J. Echevarria II
The Writings of I. F. Clarke: A Checklist
Bibliography
Index
For more information, or to order this book, please visit http://www.press.uchicago.edu
Google preview here
Literature and Literary Criticism: General Criticism and Critical Theory
You may purchase this title at these fine bookstores. Outside the USA, see our international sales information.
