This two-volume set consists of plot summaries and analyses of 180 major works of the classics in science fiction and fantasy literature most often taught in high school and undergraduate literature and cultural history courses. Titles range from classics such as Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to such pioneering classics as H.G.Wells's The War of the Worlds and J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings books. Among other prominent writers whose books are covered here are science-fiction masters Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and Frank Herbert as well as influential fantasy writers John Crowley, Ellen Kushner and C.S. Lewis. Immediately preceding the essays is noted scholar T.A. Shippey's broad survey of developments in the science-fiction and fantasy fields.