1956: A Year of Wonder in Science Fiction and Beyond

Erscheinungsjahr 2026
ISBN: 978-3-032-16573-2
Verlag: Springer

Buch, Englisch, 393 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 628 g

Reihe: Science and Fiction

1956 was a momentous year for science fiction, with the release of timeless films and the publication of classic novels and stories. It was also a pivotal year for the world at large, with events producing ripples we still feel seven decades later.

This book explores how the year’s landmark works – films such as  and , and stories such as Asimov’s and Clarke’s – emerged from their cultural context. Writers, artists, and film directors reflected the era’s tension between optimism and anxiety, between the promise and peril of progress.

The book traces, month-by-month, events in five themes: science and technology; politics and the economy; entertainment and arts; celebrity culture; and competitive sport. This was a climate defined by rapid change – from the Suez Crisis to Elvis Presley’s meteoric rise; from early computers to space race dreams. The science fiction emerging from this turbulent year helped form our collective imagination of tomorrow.

Zielgruppe

Popular/general

Autoren/Hrsg.

Webb, Stephen

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Formalen Wissenschaften & Technik
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturwissenschaft: Prosa, Erzählung, Roman, Prosaautoren
• Technische Wissenschaften Technik Allgemein Technikgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction.- Part one january.- Pushing at boundaries.- Sf and exploration.- Part two february.- Watching the watchers.- Sf and paranoia.- Part three march.- Unseen currents.- Sf and analysis.- Part 4 april.- United nations.- Sf and politics.- Part five may.- The seen and the silenced.- Sf and women.- Part six june.- The price of blind faith.- Sf and pseudoscience.- Part seven july.- Brushstrokes of history.- Sf and art.- Part eight august.- Missteps and mayhem.- Sf and nuclear armageddon.- Part nine september.- Signals of connection.-  Sf and fandom.- Part ten october.- Rising stars.- Sf and youth.- Part eleven november.- We will bury you.- Sf and the quest for immortality.- Part twelve december.- Driving the future.- Sf and automation.- Works and persons mentioned.- Index.

Über Autor(innen)

Following a first-class honours degree in Physics from the University of Bristol and a PhD in Theoretical Physics from the University of Manchester Stephen Webb has worked at a number of UK universities. In addition to shorter works, he has published twelve books – one of which won the SETI League award and was shortlisted for the Aventis Prize (now Royal Society Winton Prize) for best science book. He is active in outreach activities, having spoken at numerous international conferences, podcasts and radio shows, and his 2018 TED Talk has been viewed over 6 million times. He has published an undergraduate textbook (Springer, 1999) as well as several popular science books, among them (Springer, 2012) and the second edition of (Springer, 2015).