The reason it reads like history is that it was heavily based on actual history in terms of general political narrative (especially on Gibbon's "The History of

The reason it reads like history is that it was heavily based on actual history in terms of general political narrative (especially on Gibbon's "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire"). You might want to read Asimov's "The Foundation of S.F. Success"; a copy is at http://www.bowlandcentral.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-68867.html http://www.bowlandcentral.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-6886... for the moment. It's quite amusing.