A History of the Future

'This is fascinating, wide-ranging and important work, an ambitious attempt to do something it's amazing to think nobody has tried before: to map all the varieties of 'the future' that writers and thinkers have extrapolated over the last dozen decades or so. Professor Bowler expertly sets the terms of the discussion about what the future used to be, and what it might be again.'

Adam Roberts, Royal Holloway, University of London

'This wide-ranging survey of the ways in which technological and scientific futures were envisaged in the first half of the last century astutely challenges easy stereotypes, whether of a widespread cultural pessimism about the threats of technical change or of simplistic optimism about the limitless capacities of scientists to achieve utopia. The result is a fascinating and often surprising book, drawing on an impressive range of popular and specialist materials, offering a new account of how the future once looked.'

Simon Schaffer, University of Cambridge

'This is a wide-ranging book with an engaging combination of fascinating topics. Bowler leads us through twentieth-century literature, science fiction and futurology to discover the imagined futures that never were.'

Sean Johnston, University of Glasgow