James Blish (writing as "William Atheling") was one of the earliest critics to treat science fiction as a genre worthy of being reviewed as thoughtfully and seriously as any other branch of literature. This volume is a sequel to Blish's "The Issue at Hand," and it collects science fiction reviews written between 1957 and 1970. Where the earlier volume was largely focused on short stories and novels that had appeared in SF magazines, this collection contains a higher proportion of book reviews.