The pairing of Kornbluth and Pohl is associated with one classic SF novel, The Space Merchants, and several others in a similar vein, but the two did many collaborations over Kornbluth's short life. This collection consists of stories Pohl was not too embarrassed about from very early in their career, and stories Pohl finished up after Kornbluth's death in 1958. There's one really great story and a couple readable representatives of their approach to fiction. Forget the rest.

The great story is "The Quaker Cannon" (1961, Astounding). The setting is an unending war between the North American (and Allied) Forces -- the parenthetical is always include -- and the Chinese/Russian NeoUtilitarians. Lt John Kramer is captured, tortured, broken after three months, and eventually returned to the US, where he is allowed to remain in the military because he lasted for three months but will never advance because he broke. The story is surprisingly readable despite its dark core. The way everyone in the military immediately sizes up Kramer (and he them) by their rank and medals or lack thereof is prime satire. There's an emotional depth to the story often lacking in the Kornbluth/Pohl collaborations. On the science side, it's a very early treatment of sensory deprivation as a torture technique, decades before it became a well-known concept.

"Critical Mass" (1961, Galaxy) is thin but a good example of the comic inferno style Kingsley Amis so appreciated in Kornbluth and Pohl.

"The World of Myrion Flowers" (1961, F&SF) is a sincere but awkward attempt to deal with the treatment of blacks in America. Interesting more as sociology than as literature.

The rest are either forgettable (the ones from 1961) or awful (from 1948) ( )

ISFDB 50383. OCLC 297390.