A recent move has been to Williamsburg, Virginia, to teach at William and Mary. Though Disch claims he did not set out to write a history of SF, it nonetheless provides a handy overview, albeit with Disch's pointed emphasis on the commercial, as opposed to literary, works which he believes have had the most cultural impact. Conversely, Disch's admiration for genuine storytelling talent overcomes his disdain for an author's religious or political beliefs, as is the case with Orson Scott Card or, most notably, SF Grandmaster Robert Heinlein, who has captured the attention of disparate zanies from Charles Manson to Newt Gingrich. But it is no less true that in dreams begin irresponsibilities. The menu, in terms of our possibilities in both these respects, is well-nigh infinite.
Science fiction is that menu.
H. Bruce Franklin shares Disch's interest in how SF reflects and influences popular culture. The Superweapon and the American Imagination reviews the fiction and non-fiction that repeatedly offered false faith in new weapons of mass destruction to end war and institute a Pax Americana , from the invention of the submarine and the gatling gun up to, of course, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and the nuclear arms race. He makes a living writing corporate marketing communications, which is a kind of fiction without the art.