Phil Ebersole reflects upon SF’s golden age with this thoughtful review of the new book ASTOUNDING. Enjoy!
I just got finished reading ASTOUNDING: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard and the Golden Age of Science Fiction by Alec Nevala-Lee (2018)
This book is the story of how John W. Campbell Jr., the editor of Astounding Science Fiction magazine, and three writers most closely associated with him, shaped the American mind. It provides a detailed and objective account of the personalities, relationships and accomplishments of these four figures, both for good and ill.
In 1937, when Campbell became editor of the magazine at the age if 27, popular science fiction was a minor subset of the action-adventure genre.
His ambition was to make science fiction not only a source of entertainment, but a way of thinking about science and the future.
He was an outstanding editor, full of ideas, able to prod and provoke writers into doing better work than they thought…
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Nick DiChario 
I’m pleased you found this of interest.
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