The Humanoids

1949 Williamson, Jack [John Stewart] (1908-2006). The Humanoids. New York: Simon & Schuster. Rpt. as the Collector's Edition. Norwalk, CT: The Easton Press, 1987 illus. David. G. Klein and with an “Introduction” (v-xiv) by F.M. Busby. Exp. ed. as The Humanoids. The expanded edition with “Me and My Humanoids,” “With Folded Hands,” and a new introduction by the author. New York: Avon, 1980. Based in part on”. . . And Searching Mind.” Astounding Science Fiction (New York) 41 [50 on cover].1 - 3 (March - May 1948): 7-61, 111-62, 97-147; rpt. in The Collected Stories of Jack Williamson Volume Seven: With Folded Hands and Searching Mind (Royal Oak, MI: Haffner Press, 2010), 199-382. A related story is “With Folded Hands.” Astounding Science Fiction (New York) 39.5 (July 1947): 6-45. Rpt. in Modern Masterpieces of Science Fiction. Ed. Sam Moskowitz (Cleveland, OH: World Publishing Co., 1965), 110-64; in his The Pandora Effect (New York: Ace Books, 1969), 77-125; and in The Collected Stories of Jack Williamson Volume Seven: With Folded Hands and Searching Mind (Royal Oak, MI: Haffner Press, 2010), 153-98. Williamson explains the evolution of the book in “Me and My Humanoids” in the expanded ed. (251-59). PSt

Dystopia in which robots, which are designed to keep the peace among humans and avoid nuclear war, allow no activity that they perceive to be potentially harmful. See also 1980 Williamson, The Humanoid Touch.