I have been checking out various Science Fiction anthologies looking for something to use in a college course, and I ended up selecting this historical anthology edited by Eric S. Rabkin. My initial reason for selecting this collection was that it included both a short story by Harlan Ellison, "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream," and the Daniel Keyes classic, "Flowers for Algernon." But the more I looked over this book the more I was impressed. There are excerpts from "Gulliver's Travels," "Frankenstein," and "Looking Backward," which serve to give readers an idea of the roots of science fiction. There are also stories by acknowledged masters in the field from H. G. Wells and Isaac Asimov to Ray Bradbury and Robert Heinlein. Granted, these are not the best short stories by these writers, but at least they are all together in one volume. Finally, Rabkin includes short introductory essays to each part that explains what people were writing about in the field of science fiction and explores some of the reasons why they were doing so. Consequently, I will be using "Science Fiction: A Historical Anthology" to provide the basic framework for the class, supplemented by some classic novels ("A Handmaid's Tale," "Red Mars," "Stranger in a Strange Land," "Dune," and "Neuromancer," this year at least).

One of the problems in making my decision is that you cannot always find out exactly what is included in a given anthology. To rectify that problem in this case, here is what you will find in "Science Fiction: A Historical Anthology":

Part 1: The Emergence of Modern Science. Cyrano de Bergerac, from "Other Worlds" (1657); Jonathan Swift, from "Gulliver's Travels" (1726); Francois Marie Arouet (Voltaire), "Micromegas" (1752).

Part 2: Nineteenth Century. E. T. A. Hoffmann, "The Sand-Man" (1816); Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, from "Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus" (1818); Edgar Allan Poe, "A Descent into the Maelstrom" (1841) and "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" (1845); Nathaniel Hawthorne, "Rappaccini's Daughter" (1844); Edward Bellamy, from "Looking Backwards '2000-1887'" (1888); Jack London, "A Curious Fragment" (1908).

Part 3: Early Twentieth Century: H. G. Wells, "The Star" (1899); Hugo Gernsback, from "Ralph 124C 41+" (1911); Abraham Merritt, "The Last Poet and the Robots" (1934); John W. Campbell, "Twilight" (1934); Olaf Stapledon, from "Star Maker" (1937).

Part 4: The Golden Years (1940-1955). Isaac Asimov, "Reason (1941); Clifford D. Simak, "Desertion" (1944); Ray Bradbury, "The City" (1950); Jack Finney, "The Third Level" (1952); Arthur C. Clarke, "The Star" (1955); Daniel Keyes, "Flowers for Algernon" (1959); Robert A. Heinlein, "All You Zombies--" (1960); Frederick Pohl, "Earth Eighteen" (1966).

Part 5: The Modern Period. Roger Zelazny, "For a Breath I Tarry (1966); Harlan Ellison, "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" (1967); Robert Sheckly, "Can You Feel Anything When I Do This?" (1969); Ursula K. Le Guin, "Vaster Than Empires and More Slow" (1971).

Basically, this anthology provides exactly what the title suggests, a sense for the history of the genre of science fiction from its origin and development in ancient times (the 17th-19th centuries) to modern times (the end of the 1960s in fact).

This anthology inculdes many of the science-fiction "greats," and even some authors who may not usually be lumped in the SF genre. Authors range from Voltaire, Mary Shelley, Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Jack London to the more recent writers like H.G. Wells, Asimov, Bradbury, Clarke, Zelazny, and Le Guin. A lot of really excellent stories; well worth the price. Educational as well as entertaining.