From Jules Verne to Michael Crichton, this literary survey examines how paleoliterature originated, developed and matured from its inception in the 1820s to the present day. It follows historical trends on the crafting of classic dinosaurs, investigating the enlivened figurative and metaphoric meaning of fictional dinosaurs and related prehistoria. Also discussed are the ways in which dinosaur fiction mirrors contemporary ideas about subjects such as geology, the Cold War, environmentalism, time travel, evolution and bioengineering. Texts included are limited to those which are available in English and which emphasize dinosaurs, although other pseudo-dinosaurs are sometimes discussed. Featured authors include Ray Bradbury, H.G. Wells, and Poul Anderson, among others. In select cases, the novelizations of movie scripts are also utilized. An appendix provides brief summaries of deserving dinosaur texts, organized alphabetically by author. Illustrations and an index are also included.