The Years of the City

From the classic The Space Merchants to the contemporary masterpieces, Man Plus, Jem and Gateway (all winners of major awards), Frederick Pohl has attained the highest level of achievement in science fiction. Known for his wit, social extrapolation and psychological insight, Pohl is a member of the pantheon of SF greats, a contemporary of Asimov, Heinlein, Herbert, and Clarke.

Now, Pohl gives us an extraordinary vision of the future of New York City. Long the symbol of the turmoil, tragedy and promise of our civilization, New York is a remarkable organism that claims the loyalty, the dreams, the attention of everyone who thinks about the future.

Through the interlocking stories of the generations of several families involved in the city's progress, Pohl evolves a dazzling image of the future, from the wounded, struggling and belabored behemoth of the day after tomorrow, to the double-domed, technologically sophisticated, atmospherically controlled megalopolis of the twenty-first century, where hell-raising hang gliders soar over Central Park and ordinary people solve extraordinary problems.

Shire Brandon, idealist, social scientist and worried father, who gets the opportunity to tell the power brokers how to solve New York's worst problems;

Rinty Feigerman, blind visionary, master builder;

Jocelyn Feigerman, his conservative wife, who wakes up in another century obsolete;

Marcus Garvey deHarcourt, schoolboy hero;

Jeff Bratislaw, construction worker, adulterer, reluctant secret investigator;

Jamespercy Nutlark, irresponsible hang glider, inconstant lover, courageous when it counts;

Gwenanda, ordinary citizen and Supreme Court justice.

Politicians and prostitutes, slumlords and social scientists, Kids, criminals and crazies people the rich tapestry of future history that is The Years of the City, a Frederick Pohl masterpiece.