Joseph Zornado

}} Joseph L. Zornado (14 December 1964) is an American college professor, author of a well-received book in the field of children's literature (''Inventing the Child'', Garland, 2000/Routledge 2006) as well as a science fiction novel, ''2050: Gods of Little Earth'', initially published by Speculative Fiction Review in 2007.

Zornado was born in San Diego, California.

''Inventing the Child'' is an account of childhood at the start of a new millennium. Zornado analyzes several of the dominant notions of childhood which led to this moment, such as those of Calvin, Freud, and Rousseau, and finally, the "consumer childhood" era of Dr. Spock and television. He argues that the stories we tell our children, from fairy tales to Disney videos, perpetuate the materialism and conformity of our dominant culture. The book has been praised by writers such as Daniel Quinn, who calls it "among the two or three most eye-opening, illuminating, and important books I've ever read."

Iron Diesel Press has published the first two volumes of Zornado's ''2050'' trilogy. 2050 is set two thousand years after the fall of civilization when a wanderer named Vilb sets out on a journey and discovers that his destiny is controlled by "the gods," a remnant of ancient human beings. It is set in a post-apocalyptic version of Antarctica, which, though habitable, remains extremely dry; the lack of water and food has put this new "Little Earth" on a course for crisis.

Zornado is Professor of English and Director of the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning at Rhode Island College in Providence, Rhode Island. Provided by Wikipedia