by Frank Herbert

The first novel in a series of five, Dune introduces its readers to the Atreides family and the world of Arrakis. Frank Herbert creates in the Dune novels not merely a fictional setting but an entire world, complete with its own ecology, history, religion, and social customs. Winner of both the Hugo and Nebula awards for science fiction writing, Dune bridges the gap between the fictional future and the realistic present. Herbert's themes, while set in the future, clearly relate to the social and historical issues of his own day.

Events in History at the Time of the Novel

Space travel. In the appendices to Dune, Herbert notes that "mankind's movement through deep space placed a unique stamp on religion.... Immediately space gave a different flavor and sense to ideas of Creation" (Herbert, Dune, p. 501). The novel's sacred regard for the space frontier is a...