and semantics shift over time. De Camp's pioneering biographies of fantasy writers were many short articles and full-length studies of Robert E. Howard and H. P. Lovecraft, the first major independent biographies of both writers. Matthew Hartman, in a review of de Camp's Lovecraft: A Biography, stated that de Camp "does not defend his subject; he criticizes where criticism is due, and he explains in historical and sociological context, rather than attempting to excuse." De Camp's "warts and all" approach to his subjects has been branded by some fans as unflattering and unbalanced. For instance, Mark Finn, author of Blood & Thunder: The Life & Art of Robert E. Howard, contends that de Camp deliberately framed his questions in regard to Howard to elicit answers matching his Freudian theories about him. De Camp also wrote nonfiction radio scripts for Voice of America. De Camp wrote a number of lesser-known but nonetheless significant works that explored such topics as racism, which he wrote could be more accurately described as ethnocentrism, noting that no scholar comparing the merits of various ethnicities has ever sought to prove that his own ethnicity was inferior to others. Isaac Asimov recalled de Camp finding the tendency of authors to portray human characters in outer-space science fiction as superior to aliens analogous to northern Europeans imagining they had some inherent superiority over other races. Awards and honors De Camp and Willy Ley won the 1953 International Fantasy Award for nonfiction recognizing their study of geographical myths, Lands Beyond (Rinehart, 1952). De Camp was a guest of honor at the 1966 World Science Fiction Convention and was named the third Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy, after Tolkien and Fritz Leiber, at the 1976 convention. The Science Fiction Writers of America made him its fourth SFWA Grand Master in 1979 and he won the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 1984, a Special Achievement Sidewise Award for Alternate History in 1996, citing "seminal works in the field," and the Hugo Award for Nonfiction in 1997 for his autobiography, Time and Chance. At a meeting of the executive council of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) in Denver, Colorado, in April 2011, De Camp was selected for inclusion in CSI's Pantheon of Skeptics. The Pantheon of Skeptics was created by CSI to remember the legacy of deceased fellows of CSI and their contributions to the cause of scientific skepticism.