This work examines science and science fiction in American culture from the end of World War II to 1962. The radio work of Arch Oboler and the significance of his ""Rocket from Manhattan"" - airing only a month after the first atomic bomb was dropped and asking serious questions about the use of atomic energy - are for instance examined. Other topics are the conflict between the free world and the Communist world in the context of science fiction plot lines, the dangers of science as shown in films, the flying saucer phenomenon and the treatment of such stories in the media, the changing and more positive depictions of scientists, the shift in the balance of world power due to the successful launching of Sputnik I by the Russians in 1957, the ""end of the world"" theme in science fiction, and the American journey into space.