The dreams our stuff is made of: How Science Fiction Conquered the World

Blurb

The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of: How Science Fiction Conquered the World is an overview of the interactions between science fiction and the real world, written by Thomas M. Disch, a noted author in the field. It is neither a history of science fiction nor a collection of personal anecdotes, but contains some of each, and is written somewhat conversational style, designed to appeal to both a relative newcomer to science fiction and an expert in the field.
In this book Disch makes several arguments: That America is a nation of liars, and for that reason science fiction has a special claim to be our national literature, as the art form best adapted to telling the lies we like to hear and to pretend we believe. That Edgar Allan Poe as the first SF author. And that the three greatest SF authors are Poe, Jules Verne and H. G. Wells. He levels attacks against writers who in his opinion have attempted to trick or manipulate readers by presenting science fiction as fact—namely Erich von Däniken and L. Ron Hubbard—and examines the use science fiction to promote a political ideology, singling out Ursula K. Le Guin's feminism and Robert A.