The not-so-secret history of steampunk

In "Secret Histories," a review of four steampunk anthologies, John Rieder of the University of Hawaii-Manoa traces "the transformation of steampunk from an obscure subgenre of science fiction into a growing, increasingly visible contemporary subculture." 

To Rieder, Ted Chiang's "Seventy Two Letters" (on our syllabus)

thinks through the science of a complex, densely realized alternate universe with breathtaking logical coherence. “Seventy Two Letters” is, nonetheless, also recognizably a version of that oldest of science fiction plots, the Frankenstein story, and the ethical and political issues it raises cannily and provocatively resemble those involved in cloning or genetic engineering.

Thanks to Rob Latham of UC-Riverside for passing this along.