Andre Norton 3 hr 55 min read

Petty criminal Ross Murdock is offered a stark choice, prison, or a secret government project, and finds himself trained as a trader flung back into the Bronze Age to fight a hidden war across time.

Andre Norton's 1958 novel launches her beloved Time Traders series. Fast, vivid, endlessly readable. Read it for a cornerstone of adventure SF, a tough young everyman thrust into a Cold War fought up and down the ages against mysterious enemies, in Norton's irresistible blend of archaeology, action, and wonder.

In its time

Published in 1958, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

3 hr 55 min read (a novel-length work, settle in).