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Overhead image of suburban houses from Levittown, Pennsylvania

The Origins of Sprawl

On William Gibson, Sonic Youth, and the genesis of the American suburb.
by Jason Diamond via The Paris Review on August 26, 2020

What to Make of Isaac Asimov, Sci-Fi Giant and Dirty Old Man?

Despite calling himself a feminist, the author of the Foundation stories was a serial harasser.
by Jay Gabler via Literary Hub on May 14, 2020
Superman comic illustration

Why Superheroes Are the Shape of Tech Things to Come

Superman et al were invented amid feverish eugenic speculation: what does the superhero craze say about our own times?
by Iwan Rhys Morus via Aeon on March 5, 2020

How Local TV Made “Bad” Movies a Thing

Weekly shows on local TV stations helped make the ironic viewing of bad movies into a national pastime.
by John B. King, Kristin Hunt via JSTOR Daily on November 21, 2019
Lost World movie poster

The 1925 Dinosaur Movie That Paved the Way for King Kong

During a slow day at work, a young marble cutter named Willis O’Brien began sculpting tiny T-Rex figurines.
by Kristin Hunt via JSTOR Daily on October 10, 2019

‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ is a Science Fiction Film

Far from wallowing in nostalgia, Tarantino is using alternative history to critique conventional Hollywood endings.
by Jeet Heer via The Nation on August 23, 2019
Rod Serling at the typewriter, at his Westport, Connecticut, home in 1956.

An Early Run-In With Censors Led Rod Serling to 'The Twilight Zone'

His failed attempts to bring the Emmett Till tragedy to television forced him to get creative.
by Jackie Mansky via Smithsonian on April 1, 2019
A woman dressed in steampunk fashion.

Steampunk for Historians

It's about time.
by Scott P. Marler via Perspectives on History on December 3, 2018
Black-and-white television still of man in front of a row of masks of himself, lighting a cigarette for one of them.

Did the Creator of 'The Twilight Zone' Plagiarize Ray Bradbury?

Either way, Rod Serling definitely pissed him off.
by Emily Temple via Literary Hub on October 2, 2018

Black Atlantis

Why do white people love Black Panther, just as they love Star Wars?
by Asad Haider via Viewpoint Magazine on March 5, 2018
original

At Home With Ursula Le Guin

Her novels featured dragons and wizards, but they were also deeply grounded in indigenous American ways of thought.
by Benjamin Breen on January 31, 2018

The People Who Would Survive Nuclear War

How an appendix to an obscure government report helped launch a blockbuster and push back the possibility of atomic war.
by Alexis C. Madrigal via The Atlantic on January 25, 2018

Revisiting the Most Political 'Star Trek' Episode

In 1995, the "Deep Space Nine" installment “Past Tense” stood out for its realistic, near-future vision of racism and economic injustice.
by Robert Greene II via The Atlantic on October 8, 2017

You’ll Never See The Northern Lights

"Blade Runner: 2049" portrays a world that is both more terrifying and duller than the world of the franchise's original.
by Aaron Bady via The New Inquiry on October 8, 2017

The 'Madman Theory' of Nuclear War Has Existed for Decades. Now, Trump Is Playing the Madman.

Is he crazy, or crazy like a fox?
by Nicole Hemmer via Vox on January 4, 2017
Book cover of Octavia Butler's "Parable of the Talents."

The Fictional Presidential Candidate Who Promised to ‘Make America Great Again’

How a work of science fiction anticipated the coming of Trump.
by Kashmir Hill via Splinter on June 15, 2016

Bad Air in William Delisle Hay’s 'The Doom of the Great City' (1880)

Deadly fogs, moralistic diatribes, debunked medical theory in what is considered to be the first modern tale of urban apocalypse.
by Brett Beasley via The Public Domain Review on September 30, 2015
Jerri Cobb with a space capsule.

The Case for Female Astronauts: Reproducing Americans in the Final Frontier

Imagining a future that separates women from their biological identity seems so “drastic” as to be unimaginable—in 1962 and today.
by Lisa Ruth Rand via The Appendix on July 15, 2014
A crystal ball reflecting a landscape.

50 Years Later: Remembering How the Future Looked in 1974

A half-century ago, "Saturday Review" asked some of the era's visionaries for their predictions of what 2024 would look like. Here are their hits and misses.
by David Cassel via The New Stack on August 24, 2024
Richard Dreyfuss plays shark expert Hooper in Steven Spielberg’s classic 1975 film, “Jaws.”

The Stories Hollywood Tells About America

How three movies set on the Fourth of July reproduce popular myth, but reveal even more through what they leave unsaid.
by Emily Tamkin via New Lines on July 4, 2024
An eye in the shape of the United States.

The Weaponization of Storytelling

The American public is more susceptible than ever to skewed narratives.
by Colin Dickey via The New Republic on June 27, 2024
A illustration depicts the Hopkinsville Goblins incident from 1955, when a group claims they were assaulted by aliens of some sort.

The Long, Surprising Legacy of the Hopkinsville Goblins

Or, why families under siege make for great movies.
by Colin Dickey via Atlas Obscura on February 8, 2024
Two American soldiers in UCP uniforms with an Iraqi man in the background.

Universal Failure

Universal Camouflage Pattern became a symbol of an unpopular war. Today, it’s being reappraised by those too young to remember the invasion of Iraq.
by Charles McFarlane via The Baffler on January 4, 2024
The cult-like aesthetic of technocracy, 1942.

Margaret Mead, Technocracy, and the Origins of AI's Ideological Divide

The anthropologist helped popularize both techno-optimism and the concept of existential risk.
by Benjamin Breen via Res Obscura on November 21, 2023
Illustration of Chalude Shannon, William Weaver, and Italo Calvino, placed on a background of binary code

Language Machinery: Who Will Attend to the Machine's Writing?

The ultimate semantic receivers, selectors, and transmitters are still us.
by Richard Hughes Gibson via The Hedgehog Review on November 7, 2023
Betty and Barney Hill holding "The Interrupted Journey" by John G. Fuller.

The UFO Story of Betty and Barney Hill: Why Their Fight To Be Believed Was An American Tragedy

Betty and Barney Hill lost three hours on a New Hampshire highway in 1961. They spent years trying to understand it.
by Colin Dickey via Slate on September 11, 2023
A photograph of a bouquet flowers with the center of the image intentionally cut out.

Nothing to See Here

For centuries the study of optics and the use of invisibility in science fiction have developed side by side, each inspiring the other.
by James Gleick via New York Review of Books on July 27, 2023
Marsha P. Johnson and others at Pride march, with large fan.

Beyond the Binary

The long history of trans.
by Stephanie Burt via The Nation on June 25, 2023
Close-up view of a flour beetle under a microscope, showcasing its intricate body structure and features.

Bugging Out

The complicated, ever-changing, millennia-long relationship between insects and humans.
by Ian Rose via JSTOR Daily on May 31, 2023
Cartoon of ghosts surrounded by environmentally destructive technology.

The Palo Alto System

A new history dispenses with the sentimental lore and examines how Palo Alto has long been the seedbed for exploitation, chaos, and ecological degradation.
by Jonathan Lethem via The Nation on April 17, 2023
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