About to Begin Reading Science Fiction Short Stories from 1961

I am about to start with another science fiction short story anthology, this one titled Isaac Asimov Presents: The Great SF Stories 23 (1961).  It is interesting that I drew this book at random out of my collection, for 1961 and the previous book's year, 1945, represent landmarks in recent history.  1961 was when President Eisenhower left office and John F. Kennedy began his term.  The very "hot" war, World War II, that was concluding in 1945 had transformed sixteen years later into an intense Cold War between the former allies, the US and USSR.  This competition extended into space, and the human presence out there began in 1961 with Alan B. Shepard and Yuri Gagarin from those respective countries.  President Kennedy then also proclaimed his famous goal of getting to the moon and back by the end of the decade.  It's too bad, but I can't see anything like this going on that could unite our country in these times.

With the different momentous news stories going on in 1961, it bears noting that I was thoroughly oblivious it all.  After all, I was only four years old when that year began...I didn't begin to become politically aware until JFK's assassination in November, 1963 (when I was at the ripe old age of seven).  At the start of 1961, my family (father, mother, my older sister Anita, and me) had just moved across the Dade/Broward county line from our former apartment in Opa-Locka (where my father worked as a letter carrier) to a modest little house in suburban West Hollywood, in a subdivision called Boulevard Heights.  Anita would attend Boulevard Heights Elementary School, which was only a couple of blocks from my house (both are still standing).  I had some friends around my block I would hang out with then, like Stevie and Jimmy and Danny (I was "Billy").  I didn't attend kindergarten and began the first grade in 1962, so in 1961 I stayed at home while Anita went to school.  I think during that time, if memory serves me correctly, my main fun activities were watching TV (especially game shows like Concentration), drawing on the walls with crayons, and leaving all of my toys lying around in disarray on the floor.  Good times, good times...

There are thirteen stories in The Great SF Stories 23 (1961); only one is written by an author from the 1945 edition: Isaac Asimov, who co-edited this series with Martin H. Greenberg.  However, I am familiar with some of the other authors, in particular Arthur C. Clarke of 2001: A Space Odyssey renown and Cordwainer Smith, who created what I regard as one of the most interesting and imaginative series of stories regarding future space exploration.  Also in the mix are familiar names like Poul Anderson, Anne McCaffrey, Frederick Pohl, and Cyril Kornbluth.  Kornbluth's, entry, a collaboration between him and Pohl, was published in 1961, three years after his death at the sadly young age of 35.  I have a collection of his short stories and may review it on this blog at a future date...