Future wars : the anticipations and the fears / edited by David Seed.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Seed, David.

Series:

Liverpool science fiction texts and studies ; 42.

Liverpool science fiction tests and studies ; 42

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

War stories--History and criticism.

War stories.

Science fiction--History and criticism.

Science fiction.

Imaginary wars and battles in literature.

War in literature.

Future, The, in literature.

Prophecies in literature.

Politics in literature.

Genre:

War stories.

Physical Description:

ix, 302 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Liverpool : Liverpool University Press, 2012.

Summary:

The subject of this timely book is that body of fiction which speculates in narrative form about the nature of wars likely to break out in the near or distant future. Although earlier instances occur, the origins of this mode lie primarily in the late nineteenth century, but writing about future wars continues to this day, with notable fiction on the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ranging widely across periods and conflicts real and imagined, and boasting contributions from Patrick Parrinder, H. Bruce Franklin and the late I. F. Clarke, Future Wars explores the fascinating process of interaction between politics and literature, science fiction and war, in a range of classic texts. Individual essays explore Ronald Reagan's 'start wars' project, nuclear fiction, Martin invasion, and the Pax Americana, among other topics. The use of future war scenarios in military planning dates back to the nineteenth century, and the book concludes with an assessment by a research director for the US Army of the continuing usefulness of further wars fiction. Book jacket.

Contents:

Future-war fiction: the first main phase, 1871-1900 / L. F. Clarke

How America's fictions of future war have changed the world / H. Bruce Franklin

War is peace: conscription and mobilization in the moder Utopia / Patrick Parrinder

From invasion to liberation: alternative vision of Mars, Planet of War / Robert Crossley

John Henry Palmer's The invasion of New York, or how Hawaii was annexes: political discourse and emergent mass culture in 1897 / John Rieder

John Wyndham's World War II and his abandoned Fury of Creation Trilogy / David Ketterer

Prophesying neocolonial wars in 1950s American science fiction / Rob Latham

On the Beach: British nuclear fiction and the Spaces of Empire's End / Brian Baker

Adapting the absurd apocalypse: Eugene Burdick's and Harvey Wheeler's Fail-Safe and its cinematic progeny / Nicholas Ruddick

The Strategic Defense Initiative: a utopian fantasy / David Seed

When all wars are done: the transcendent humanity of Iain M. Banks / Patricia Kerslake

'The benefit and handicap of hindsight': modelling risk and reassessing future-war fiction after the 9/11-induced shift to a US national security strategy of pre-emptive attack / A. Michael Matin

The war after next: anticipating future conflict in the new millennium / Antulio J. Echevarria II

The writings of I.F. Clarke: a checklist.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [273]-293) and index.

ISBN:

9781846317552

184631755X

OCLC:

760973362