In his long career …, Frederik Pohl has written many different kinds of science fiction. But he is perhaps best known for his use of s.f. to poke fun at social inanities—the prime example being "The Space Merchants" (1953), a collaboration with C. M. Kornbluth that depicted a not-so-future society entirely under the thumb of rapacious advertising agencies.

"JEM" is also social satire—but without the humor. The story tells of the first encounters between humans and intelligent aliens on a distant planet; it also tells of the clash between different value systems on earth. In Mr. Pohl's dark vision of the future, nothing is what it first appears to be. Ecology-minded idealists pave the way for planetwide exploitation; lust and love lead equally to destruction; the most dangerous villains act from motives that they perceive as pure and good—and that many readers will share. Even space...