UC Clermont History Professor Fred Krome Publishes 'Fighting the Future War'

Born in Europe to a military family and raised on stories about the Cold-War, it seemed natural for UC Clermont History Professor Fred Krome to compile a book based on what he loved – history and science-fiction. Krome recently published his second book

Fighting the Future War

.

Krome describes science fiction as a mirror of contemporary issues. “If you think about the medium – science fiction is set on an another planet, in a future world –  each one of those enables you to do something you may not be able to do in your contemporary society,” said Krome. He sites for example, the

Twilight Zone

, a television anthology series created by Rod Serling in the early 1960’s. The creator was able to freely criticize the arms race, racism and the Viet Nam War because it was set in another world.   

In his book, Krome introduces the collection of future war stories and infuses historical information about both the authors of the stories and the historical time period. “When I started to organize the material, I found a logical progression from World War I, when technology and technological speculation was a dominant theme, and usually considered to be a positive force, to the 1930s, when ambiguities about race, degeneration, and the fear that another world war would destroy society, were common themes,” said Krome.

“The stories provide a view into the field of pulp science fiction writing, the issues that informed the time period between the world wars, and the way people envisioned the wars of tomorrow. Revealing anxieties about society, technology, race and politics, the genre of the future war story is important material for students of history and literature,” excerpt from the book’s cover. 

Krome hopes to someday publish a second book in this genre that examines the period after 1945, and how entering the nuclear age affected the mindset of authors and readers.

Beginning this fall, Krome is teaching a class called "The History of the Future," and will use this book as the primary text. The book has been published by Routledge. Professor Krome is also a well-known Holocaust historian as well as an expert on film propaganda.