The Clifford D. Simak Centennial Edition of "City" includes all the stories form the original book from 1952 (although in a different order) as well as an Introduction written in 1976, and a final story called "Epilog" written in 1973 as a tribute to John W. Campbell. This book won the International Fantasy award in 1953 for fiction, was rated 2nd on the Astounding/Analog Poll for books in 1956, and then 9th in 1966. It was also rated 30th on the 1987 Locus All-Time Poll for All Time SF Novels, and tied for 38th on the 1998 Locus All-Time Poll for SF Novels Before 1990.
Like several other Science Fiction novels, this one is actually a collection of short stories written earlier. Unlike some other novels built from stories, it appears that these stories were always strongly linked together, and the linking premise of scholars looking back at ancient mythological tales, works extremely well. The amazing thing about this book is the number of science fiction themes that it touches upon, and yet it still maintains a steady pace, and moves forward.
The stories are as follows:
"City" is a novella, first published in Astounding in May of 1944. It is this story that gives the book its name, and it is an unusual name since there are no cities in the rest of the book, and in fact they are dead even in the first story. The first story is about the death of cities, and introduces the reader to the Webster family with the character John J. Webster.
"Huddling Place" is a short story, first published in Astounding in July of 1944. In this story we meet Jerome A. Webster M.D., a man who in his younger days traveled, but now in the later stages of his life he suffers from Agoraphobia. Prior to that, he had become friends with Juwain, a Martian philosopher. Juwain is working on a philosophy which will advance Earthmen and Martians alike by hundreds of thousands of years in just a couple generations. When Juwain needs an operation that only Webster can perform, he is forced to make a choice between the safety of his own home, and saving a friend. This story introduces the character of Jenkins, who is a robot that serves the Webster family, and appears in most of the stories. This is the only story in which there are Martians, although the lost of Juwain's philosophy is very important to many of the stories.
"Census" is a novella, first published in Astounding in September of 1944. This story is about a census taker, who is traveling around to get an understanding of the Earth's population, and also to learn about the Mutants. He learns about a mutant (Joe) who is able to fix things easily, and tries to get him to finish Juwain's philosophy. This story introduces the reader to several important characters and events. First there is the dog Nathaniel, who is the first talking dog, as well as Bruce Webster, the man who performed the operation to allow Nathaniel to talk, and Thomas Webster who invented the space ship drive that is allowing man to travel outside the solar system. The character Joe is important, as are the mutants. Joe's stealing of Juwain's philosophy, and his work with ants that allows them to evolve is also important to the overall tale.
"Desertion" is a short story, first published in Astounding in November of 1944. This is the story of Kent Fowler, who is trying to find out if man can survive in a different form on Jupiter. The problem is that the people he sends to find out are not returning. Finally he decides that he himself must go, and he takes with him his faithful dog, Towser. This is perhaps the most unusual of the stories, as it doesn't include a Webster character, or Jenkins. However, the transformation to a Jovian life form is very essential to the story.
"Paradise" is a short story, first published in Astounding in June of 1946. Kent Fowler decides to give up paradise, and leave behind Towser, so that he can let humanity know of what he experienced as a Jovian life form. Tyler Webster tries to conceal Kent Fowler's story, so that man will not abandon Earth and instead fulfill his destiny. This story is important, because it leads to the exodus of man from Earth, and the decision by Joe to turn over Juwain's philosophy to humanity, which ultimately serves his own ends.
"Hobbies" is a novella, first published in Astounding in November of 1946. In this story Jon Webster sees the end of man's reign on Earth. Most of humanity has left for Jupiter, and those that remain are engaged in various hobbies that do nothing more than pass the time, and the Juwain Philosophy makes it impossible for them to ignore their fate. Jon Webster journeys to see Jenkins, and learns that man must leave Earth to the dogs and the robots so as to avoid dominating them.
"Aesop" is a novella, first published in Astounding in December of 1947. Peter, one of the few remaining humans, creates a bow and arrows. When he uses them to kill a bird, accidentally, Jenkins is forced to seek help from the Mutants. This story is important to the story, because we learn that the Mutants have left Earth, and this is also the first we see of travel between dimensions.
"The Simple Way" is a novella, first published as "The Trouble With Ants" in Fantastic Adventures in January of 1951. In this story, we learn the ants that Joe helped advance way back in "Census" are still around and taking over Earth. Jenkins seeks help by awakening Jon Webster, but when the only solution he can offer is killing the ants, Jenkins realizes that he cannot allow the ways of man to return.
"Epilog" is a short story, first published in Astounding for the John W. Campbell Memorial Anthology in 1973. This last story, written so long after the others, is a wrap up of Jenkins' life. He outlasts the ants, and then only he and the mice remain. The dogs return in a spaceship, and Jenkins realizes he has no reason to stay any longer on Earth.
City
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City is a fairly short book; but, for some reason, I found that it took me longer to read than many books twice its length... possibly because it involves so many different characters (the book is basically a collection of short stories which take place over a period of 10,000 years or so), that it demands more attention... and also possibly because it is more intellectual than dramatic.I read the SFBC 50th Anniversary Collection edition of this book (check out the scanned image I added). This SFBC 50th Collection started out with a sample of 8 books from well-known SciFi authors that were published in 50's (Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke, Poul Anderson, Pohl, Simak, etc.), and I ended up liking City better than any of the other books from the 1st eight of the Collection. The Collection has turned out to be popular enough, that another 8 significant SciFi books from the 60's were republished as part of the Collection (I found some real gems in that 2nd set), and now 8 more from the 70's are being republished.
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Top reviews from other countries
Discerning viewer
OK but contains many short stories you may have already read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 15, 2020Mel G
A shining gem of literature
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 9, 2016
