Damon Knight's contributions to the field of science fiction as author, editor, critic, illustrator, and translator represent several decades of commitment to making sense of the literature while defending its existence as a serious enterprise. Born in Baker, Oregon, Damon Francis Knight discovered science fiction in 1932 in the magazine Amazing Stories. During the summer of 1940 Knight began his correspondence with various members of a group calling themselves the New York Futurians, including such luminaries as Donald A. Wollheim, Frederik Pohl, C. M. Kornbluth, and Isaac Asimov. Knight's first story, "Resilience," was published in Wollheim's Stirring Science Stories in February 1941 while he was attending art school in Salem, Oregon. As a science-fiction author, Knight had an inauspicious debut, for a typographical error apparently made the story incomprehensible. Nevertheless, his own fanzine Snide so impressed the Futurians that they encouraged him to come to New York in 1941. Knight has chronicled...