“An amazing and engrossing history...Insightful, entertaining, and compulsively readable.” — George R. R. Martin“Alec Nevala-Lee has brilliantly recreated the era eighty years ago when a handful of dedicated writers and one extraordinary editor gave American science fiction its modern shape. It is a remarkable work of literary history.” — Robert Silverberg, Grand Master of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America“A gift to science fiction fans everywhere.” — Sylvia Nasar, New York Times bestselling author of A Beautiful Mind“Science fiction has been awaiting this history/biography for more than half a century....Here it is. This is the most important historical and critical work my field has ever seen. Alec Nevala-Lee’s superb scholarship and insight have made the seemingly impossible a radiant and irreplaceable gift.” — Barry N. Malzberg, author of Beyond Apollo“Astounding has taught me things I didn’t know; put in context things I did know; and corrected things I thought I knew. This is a wonderful, well-written book; a delight to read.” — David Drake, author of Hammer’s Slammers“Astounding is a sharp and detailed history of some of the major players in one of the most significant periods in modern science fiction. Highly recommended!” — Greg Bear, author of Blood Music“A riveting read—a journey to another dimension, one that tells us a lot about creativity, human resilience, and even American exceptionalism. The book is a must read for lovers of science fiction, to be sure, but really for anyone interested in culture, and how it jumps, bounces, and changes.” — Cass R. Sunstein, New York Times bestselling author of The World According to Star Wars, and Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard Law School“This is a fascinating, well-written, and deeply researched account of the golden age of science fiction. The lives of the writers are every bit as compelling as their best stories and Nevala-Lee brings them alive.” — Jon Atack, author of Let’s Sell These People a Piece of Blue Sky: Hubbard, Dianetics and Scientology“An indispensable book for anyone trying to understand the birth and meaning of modern science fiction in America from the 1930s to the 1950s” — The Economist“Engrossing, well-researched… This sure-footed history addresses important issues, such as the lack of racial diversity and gender parity for much of the genre’s history.” — Wall Street Journal“Enthralling…A clarion call to enlarge American literary history.” — Washington Post“A captivating cultural history… fascinating and complex… reads with the immediacy of a good novel… Nevala-Lee has managed to distill the essence of their stories into a compelling tale of ambition, idealism and opportunism that should fascinate even those who have never read much science fiction at all.” — Chicago Tribune“[Astounding] is a major work of popular culture scholarship that science fiction fans will devour.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)“A laser-sharp study of science fiction’s golden age, the product of a small circle of writers and their guiding editor...Nevala-Lee’s warts-and-all look is a welcome contribution to the study of popular literature.” — Kirkus Reviews“A thoroughgoing scholarly effort… A chatty, slightly gossipy popular biography. Nevala-Lee approaches the four subjects with a full understanding of their status and importance, but treats them as human beings with their own constellations of talents and flaws… You don’t want to miss this one.” — Analog Science Fiction and Fact“Excellent… Ingenious… The story that Nevala-Lee pieces together here has never quite been assembled in such a detailed, balanced, and clearly written way… As literary and cultural history, Astounding may well stand as the definitive account of this important era in the growth of modern SF.”— Locus“[Astounding] is a rich, gripping cultural and historical study of how a small cadre of talents in a minor commercial genre became some of the most influential figures of the second half of the twentieth century.” — Nature“This wonderfully researched, expansive biography — humor, perspective, depth all much a part of it — is a document of things all but lost to time’s slurry, the portrait of a great editor in tandem with that of a genre’s maturation.” — Fantasy and Science Fiction“Alec Nevala-Lee’s Astounding is an essential and long-overdue history of the golden age of science fiction, as reflected through the prism of some of its most significant contributors...it is an astounding history, and essential guide to a defining era of science fiction.” — B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog“[Astounding] is an expansive industry drama...but the real treat of the book is [Nevala-Lee’s] dogged efforts to make these authors feel like the imperfect, egotistic, and philosophically-biased people who made such a lasting impact on the genre.” — SyFy.com“exhaustive, well-researched examinations...[an] engrossing history” — The Verge“A mighty work of scholarship” — Dallas News“[An] illuminating biography...Astounding is a captivating read” — John DeNardo, Kirkus
