Following its acclaimed three-volume edition of the novels of science fiction master Philip K. Dick, The Library of America now presents a two-volume anthology of nine groundbreaking works from the golden age of the modern science fiction novel, works by turns satiric, adventurous, incisive, and hauntingly lyrical.This second of two volumes surveying the best science fiction novels of the 1950s presents works by five of the field’s most admired and influential practitioners.In Robert A. Heinlein’sDouble Star(1956), an actor forced to impersonate a twenty-second-century political leader intent on forging bonds between Earthlings and Martians learns hard lessons about the nature of power.Alfred Bester’sThe Stars My Destination(1956), which Neil Gaiman has called “the perfect cyberpunk novel,” is a classic revenge tale set in a nightmarish future dominated by corporations.In James Blish’sA Case of Conscience(1958), space voyagers on the remote planet Lithia find themselves challenged by the values of an alien civilization.Algis Budrys’sWho?(1958) unleashes Cold War anxieties about technology and human identity with its story of a scientist rebuilt beyond recognition after a devastating accident.Set in “the Place,” a bar and bordello in the backwater of time’s stream, Fritz Leiber’sThe Big Time(1958) explores the implications of the “Change War,” an endless cosmic struggle in which shadowy antagonists dart in and out of history in a contest to control destiny.The range of styles—by turns adventurous, satiric, incisive—is as varied as the themes addressed by these novels, all now acknowledged as American classics. Together they mark an explosively entertaining era in modern fiction.