Reviewing Asimov's major science fiction, Fiedler and Mele follow the writer's chronology and discuss the early pulp tales, the "Robot" breakthrough, the central Foundation trilogy, future histories and other late stories. They argue that Asimov has never written escapist fiction, but instead has chosen themes reflective of future moral and scientific dilemmas, such as the uses and dangers of technology, or the manifestations of prejudice between races, species, men and machines.