High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Demolished Man, by Alfred Bester, is an American novel, equally parts science fiction and inverted detective story, that was the first Hugo Award winner in 1953. The story was first serialized in three parts, beginning with the January 1952 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction, followed by publication of the novel in 1953. The novel is dedicated to Galaxy`s editor, H. L. Gold, who made suggestions during its writing. Bester`s title was Demolition!, but Gold talked him out of it.