The authors of this text argue that for many contemporary Americans, "Star Trek" fills the role of a secular humanist mythology, exploring and mediating the ambiguities of modern culture while offering a sense of hope and empowerment in an orderly cosmos. Its poetics of religion, gender, progress and human difference have evolved to meet the changing needs of liberalism from the Vietnam era to the age of postmodern cynicism.

Author Biography

JON WAGNER is Professor of Anthropology, Knox College, Galesburg, Ilinois. He has published books and articles on Islam, utopian societies, gender, and contemporary myth. JAN LUNDEEN teaches nursing in the Division of Allied Health at Carl Sandburg College. She has researched and written on the sociology of health care and gender in nursing education.