Editing Robots and Empire (section)

==Novel==
In his memoir ''I. Asimov'' (1994), Asimov explained that following his commercial and critical success with ''[[The Robots of Dawn]]'', he decided to write ''Robots and Empire'' with the intentions of making Daneel, "the real hero of the series", the novel's [[protagonist]], and that ''Robots and Empire'' would create a bridge to the later volumes of his future history. About this second aim, Asimov said that he was dissuaded by [[Lester del Rey]] and [[Judy-Lynn del Rey]], his long-time friends and the [[Editing|editors]] of [[Del Rey Books]], who thought that the fans of Asimov's series of novels would rather that Asimov kept the ''Robot'' and ''Empire''/''Foundation'' universes separate. On the other hand, his editors at [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]], his hardcover book publisher, encouraged Asimov to do what deep down he wanted to do. From then on, Asimov proceeded with his plans for unifying the two series.

Asimov organized ''Robots and Empire'' [[nonlinear (arts)|nonlinear]]ly. (Other examples of nonlinear [[Plot (narrative)|plot]]ting in Asimov's novels can be found in ''[[The Gods Themselves]]'' and ''[[Nemesis (Isaac Asimov novel)|Nemesis]]''.) Flashbacks by the major characters alternate with the present-time storyline. The story starts on the Spacer planet Aurora, where the heart of Amadiro's [[conspiracy (crime)|conspiracy]] against Settler civilization is developing. Meanwhile, aboard a [[starship]], Gladia, Daneel, and Giskard visit the planets Solaria and [[Baleyworld]] before reaching the Earth, where this novel's climax takes place.

Asimov used a planet-hopping itinerary in most of the volumes of the [[Foundation (book series)|''Foundation'' series]] from ''[[Foundation and Empire]]'' onward. Unlike the [[detective fiction]] methods of the previous Robot novels,  where Baley assembles the clues to a crime that had been committed, in ''Robots and Empire'' a murderous conspiracy developing against the Earth, and its discovery by the robots, keep pace with each other right up through the final confrontation with Amadiro on the Earth. Then, the robots have only moments to spare in terminating Amadiro's plan for a quick death to all Earthlings.

As well as linking the two series into a single future history, the present book served to address a criticism levelled against the largely radioactive Earth depicted in ''[[Pebble in the Sky]]'' and mentioned in several other books. Though not explicitly stated, there was the clear implication that the world's being mostly radioactive with humans precariously surviving in limited uncontaminated areas was the result of a [[nuclear war]] hundreds or thousands of years before the time of the plot. This would have made ''Pebble in the Sky'' part of the post-nuclear war subgenre common in the 1950s. It was, however, pointed out by critics that such an extensive use of nuclear weapons as to leave persistent and widespread radiation even after centuries would have completely destroyed all life on Earth at the moment when it took place. Therefore, in the present book Asimov provided a different origin for the future Earth's radioactivity.