Women of Wonder: The Classic Years
Women of Wonder, The Classic Years: Science Fiction by Women from the 1940s to the 1970s is an anthology of short stories, novelettes, and novellas edited by Pamela Sargent. It was published in 1995, along a companion volume, "" The collection revisits fourteen works by female science fiction authors published in the out-of-print anthologies "Women of Wonder", "More Women of Wonder", and "The" "New Women of Wonder" and adds seven new pieces originally published between 1944 and 1978. It also includes a history of women in science fiction and a twelve-page list  of recommended readings of science fiction by women from 1818 to 1978, which has been deemed "one of the highlights of the anthology." The "Women of Wonder" anthologies were one of the first science fiction collections to focus on women in science fiction both as authors and as varied and complex characters. Reception. In a first review, Sally Estes assesses "The Classic Years" as "[a]n eye-opening overview of science fiction and women between 1944 and 1978... Exploring topics such as prejudice, child abuse, vanity, stereotypes, aging, rape, obesity, and insanity, stories by Marion Zimmer Bradley, Zenna Henderson, Kit Reed , Kate Wilhelm, Joan Vinge, the pseudonymous James Tiptree Jr., and others are as disconcerting as they are intriguing." She later extols the editorial work of Pamela Sargent for this follow up to the "Women of Wonder" series: