Star Trek and History (Wiley Pop Culture and History Series, 5) Paperback – March 1, 2013

It’s written pretty well to tell you the truth I haven’t read it yet but I m planning to when I can

I was very happy with this purchase and felt that the book covered a wide variety of cultural and historical aspects of the Star Trek universe. While there is of course no way any one volume can entirely explore every aspect of the historical connections and implications of the show, this book included essays on a wide variety of topics and viewpoints. The articles were well written and researched; I was particularly impressed with the article on biomedicine and the evolving role and conflicts of the modern vs. traditional views on healing. I may not have agreed with every interpretation of the show, but I feel that the book is both enjoyable and informative, though perhaps not the best choice for readers who are not already somewhat familiar with the series. I would love to see more books like this!

Great book and lots of info.

Thoroughly enjoyable exploration of the world of Star Trek. All fans of Star Trek need to read this to know the variety of influences to the world of Roddenberry.

Had about 25% of topics that weren;t of interest to me

"Star Trek and History" is a collection of 19 essays that cover all 6 series & to be 12 motion pictures. In each essay, the authors take various aspects of the Star Trek universe & deconstruct them in their historical perspective & also even look at alternate timelines. Each author brings a somewhat unique if not unbiased on occasion viewpoint to the topics of race, technology & figures in history as everything created is explained allegorically in a way that is something not seen before in this universe. The book itself has no formal ties into the franchise & is geared toward just about anyone from the historian to the fan to the downright curious. Overall this is a well researched & very interesting look at Star Trek from a point of view not often seen.

I think its safe to say that most die-hard fans of Star Trek have never seen it or watched it as a form of pure escapism. This book complements that fact nicely, by showing that virtually every episode of each of the Star Trek series (and films as well) were written with recent sociological issues in mind.It is a collection of essays written by different authors who each deal with different social/political issues the show tackled, from racism to the Cold War and Vietnam, environmentalism, the responsibility of not interfering in the development of more primitive cultures etc...The reviewer who gave this book two stars because he thought it failed to recognize many of the pertinent social issues of the 20th century obviously didn't read the entire book. Pretty much everything he had issue with was addressed in the book.Its refreshing to see a book come out like this that deals with the primary appeal of Star Trek, which was not phasers, transporters and starships in space, but the interaction of cultures and perceptions about right and wrong ways to deal with nature, divergent societies in conflict, etc. I was pulled into the series as a kid by the dramatic moral stories in episodes like The Man Trap, Devil in the Dark, and Let that Be Your Last Battlefield and coming across a book that explored these themes more in depth was a wonderful find for me.

This book is an enormous disappointment because such it is such a sorely missed opportunity. Instead of demonstrating the continuing fecundity of Gene Roddenberry's vision, these "historians" undermine it.They do this by ignoring the deep, truly historical roots, of his great contribution in the original Star Trek - classic Trek (TOS). As well as it's deep and serious reflections on history and American politics. These missed original topics include the place of western history in the universe, mapping Cold War and WWII histories onto the future, and the expectation - expectations which failed - that past dangers of eugenics, race, and nuclear wars of the past would continue into the 20th century's then future. Not to mention themes like constitutionalism, popular government versus monarchy and dictatorship, and the primacy of the rule of law to establish justice.Lacking this, how can the successive Trek series be weighed? They cannot.This "history" demonstrates the failure of contemporary historians to do lasting, informed history of our times, and chronicle our premier cultural achievements - not even in historical context. How sad and unworthy of Roddenberry's legacy, whose fiction will outlast them all.

Das Buch bietet bereichernde zusätzliche Informationen zum zeit- und kulturgeschichtlichen Hintergrund von Star Trek. Ich empfinde es als gute Ergänzung!

I didn't read the book. I didn't buy the book for myself but for my son Dr. Lincoln Geraghty who wrote living with Star Trek and others. Sorry.