‘Reviewing’ Old Science Fiction

“Part of the pleasure of reading old science fiction is precisely this: with the special powers vested in you by historical hindsight, you can compare the playfully visionary forecasts with what actually took place. This puts you rather in the position of Asimov’s ‘Eternals,’ …the observing and controlling the vast majority who still live within it.” Wendy Lesser reviews ‘The End of Eternity’, a science-fiction novel which first appeared in print in 1955. Looking back on Asimov’s work from the remove of several decades it is easier to see “how deeply enmeshed he was in the history of his own time.”