
This is regarded as being one of the most important SF anthologies of all time. It was written in 1967 and Ellison’s vision was a collection of stories that were dangerous, that could never have been published in the other outlets of the era, and that would expand the boundaries of the genre. He succeeded incredibly with a huge collection (33 stories) and an author list that reads like a who’s who of 1960s SF authors, including Philip K. Dick, Philip Jose Farmer, Roger Zelazny, Samuel R. Delany and many, many more.
Over the years some of the stories have lost their edge, what made them dangerous to start with (although Sturgeon’s If All Men Were Brothers, Would You Let One of The Marry Your Sister or Delany’s Aye, and Gomorrah… still bite today) but it’s still an excellent collection with many outstanding stories. I’m glad that I’ve read it, not just for itself but as a piece of SF history.