Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
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Book Reviews of Starship Troopers
Book Review: Paying for the Right to Vote
Summary: 5 Stars
When Heinlein first penned this work in response to a call by some politicians to unilaterally disarm the United States, I doubt if he thought it would become one of his best known and most controversial works, a work which continues to have steady sales and whose influence on the science-fiction field has been enormous.
It's a simple story, one of the growth of Juan Rico from boy to man, as he enlists in the military of the future, and learns just what duty and responsibility mean, what his own capabilities are, and just what he wants out of life.
What is controversial about this book is the philosophy that suffuses it, is in fact the heart of this book, as Heinlein posits a future where, in order to vote or hold political office, you must prove your willingness to support and defend the society through either military service or service in one of the non-combatant auxiliary services. As part and parcel of this idea, no one can be refused entry into these services, even if blind or paralyzed, so political franchise is available to anyone who so desires (as opposed to some of the limitations that have been put on the voting franchise by various states at various times - and remember that this book was written in 1959, long before the Voting Rights Act of 1965). Heinlein further posits that such a society, even though the people who hold office were no better, smarter, or otherwise more qualified than our current leaders, would be a more stable society than our current one because their authority is balanced by their proven sense of responsibility and duty towards that society, a point that is certainly debatable, but in the absence of any real-world society so structured, must remain a conjecture.
Right alongside this idea are statements that rights must be earned (a critical failure of our current society is the inculcated belief that people have these rights just because they exist - that they are `owed' things without having to make any effort of their own), that correct moral attitudes are not inherent but must be taught (and a lack of corporal punishment in the early developing years does not help in this education), that war is a political statement whose level of violence must be geared towards what the political goal is, that the dictum that `violence never solves anything' is hogwash, that communism is based on faulty premises, and a whole host of other such ideas.
Now quite a few people have labeled this book as `fascist' because of this military service requirement, when it is no such thing (just look up the definition of fascist). Heinlein does glorify the military to some degree, but he also shows (often by counter-example) just how screwed up the military can be. And far from robotic adherence to commands, he clearly indicates that military people should question orders they think are suspect (at the right time and place - not while the bullets are whizzing over your head). There is a well-established court system, that like ours is pretty much insulated from political influence, and a political election process that is far away from any fascist government organization.
His depiction of boot camp and later military operations is excellent, comparable to similar descriptions in things like Leon Uris' Battle Cry. Rico is very well portrayed, a man that is very easy to empathize with and understand his thought processes. The plot seems to ramble a bit, as the story is not really about the Bug war, but about Rico's development. Once you understand this, it is very logical, coherent, and often exciting. The philosophy is presented with anecdotes, analogies, and concrete examples that make it easy to understand and far from being just `dry lecture', though perhaps that is the only real flaw with this book, as there is perhaps just too much of this `telling', rather than `showing'. But in general this is extremely readable, with Heinlein's typical unforced, near-folksy prose and clear thought processes.
This book has been, at various times, on the recommended reading list of all of our military service academies. I would go further, and recommend that this book be added to the list of `required reading' that our high school students are subject to. Whether you agree with ideas of this book or not, at the very least this book will make you think, and that's not a bad thing for students to learn how to do.
--Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)
Book Review: Controversy? What controversy?
Summary: 5 Stars
I'll admit that I never even heard of Robert Heinlein until I watched the movie of the same name. Having been entertained by the movie (hey, who wouldn't be entertained by lots of cool explosions, gory deaths, and hot naked women?) I saw the "based on the book by Robert Heinlein" and dutifully went out and bought the book.
Well, the book was about 10 times more entertaining, and after having read it, I was chagrined at Paul Verhoeven (whose movies I actually like a great deal) for taking such liberties with the book, to the point where it is nearly unrecognizeable. At the time I watched the movie and read the book, I didn't know this was a well-known "controversial" book. I simply took the film and book at face value and was wholly entertained by both. Now, after understanding the so-called controversy over Heinlein's future world, I can come to grips with how Verhoeven portrayed it in his film - given his upbringing in Nazi-occupied Holland.
Now, the book itself is part political philosophy, part battle-action sequences, and part coming-of-age. In the world of Starship Troopers, the average citizen doesn't get to vote - that right is reserved only for those who have completed a term of military service. Sounds fascist, right? Well hold on - the military is forbidden by law to refuse anyone who wants to sign up. There's even an example in the book where if a blind, quadruple amputee decides he or she wants the right to vote and will be willing to serve in the military to do so, then the military will have to, by law, find a job suitable for such a person.
The civilians of Starship Troopers don't act as a disenfranchised, oppressed group - they seem for the most part perfectly happy with the governance provided by the military veterans. Also, far from the military being glorified as in Nazi Germany or Fascist Italy or militarist Japan, the military is regarded with a healthy dose of disdain - much as, quite frankly, the pre-9/11 American military was regarded. In fact, the father of Rico (the book's main character) snorts at his son when Rico announces his decision to join up - he's not horrified or proud, but rather dismissive, as though it's just a phase his son is going through. Rico's father dismisses the military as people who can't or won't find a better job, and who are basically living on the public dole because their lack of skills preclude their participation in the wider civilian world. So - the military of ST is neither feared or glorified, but rather looked upon the same way a small town might look upon an incompetent small police force.
Now, the action scenes after Rico joins up are fantastic. Rico becomes a member of the Mobile Infantry, which was the very last choice available to him, given his grades in school! However, the reader is treated to a description of a future boot camp which has the trainees marching 50 miles in a day, camping without tents on the open prairie, and learning to kill with every weapon known to man - from bare hands all the way to atomic weapons. The Mobile Infantry is described as an incredibly elite group of space paratroopers. The powered armor they wear is similar to what fans of Iron Man might envision - it is a suit of powered armor that enables the wearer to essentially be a one-man tank.
The string throughout the whole of the novel, however, is the coming-of-age of John Rico. Rico is a rich boy, the son of a wealthy industrialist who is nevertheless a mediocre student and who has little interest in the acquiring and building of wealth. He joins the military on a whim, when his best friend as well as a pretty girl in his class decide to join, and then he gets his awakening when he really is in the military. He finally joins the officer cadre and his example inspires his father to likewise join up - prompting his father to comment, "I had to prove that I was more than just an economic producing-comsuming machine - I had to prove I was a man!"
This is a fantastic novel. I recommend it with 5 stars.
Book Review: Action-packed and thought-provoking reading
Summary: 5 Stars
For me, Starship Troopers is all the proof you need in order to name Robert Heinlein science fiction's greatest writer. I am getting in the bad habit of naming specific Heinlein books to be his very best, only to find that the next novel I pick up is even better than the last one. This particular novel is fascinating on a number of levels. There is nothing really special about Johnnie Rico; he's a normal lad who decides to join the military, ostensibly at the time in order to gain citizenship. In this future Terran confederation, only those who serve in the military are awarded citizenship and granted the privilege to vote. The government actually discourages volunteers and makes boot camp so difficult that only men with proper soldier qualities get through it. On the broadest level, we see Rico's progression from harrowed recruit to active service in the Mobile Infantry to combat against the Klendathu. I have no military background at all, but I found Heinlein's descriptions of military life and actual combat to be detailed and thrilling. We watch Johnnie Rico become a soldier. Along the way, he figures out why he actually did volunteer, developing a whole new outlook on duty and responsibility.I don't want to delve too deeply into the politics of this novel. Some have pinned a fascist connotation on it, but I try to examine this future society philosophically. Only those who serve in the military can vote, but the vast majority of people choose not to serve and live happy lives as civilians, so I don't see anything fascist about this society. What intrigues me most, and it is this that sets this book apart from the vast majority of science fiction, is Heinlein's thought-provoking ideas about ethics, morality, duty, responsibility, etc. Mr. Dubois, Ricco's high school instructor in History and Moral Philosophy (a required course for all) gets in the ring and dukes it out with Plato, John Locke, and a host of other political thinkers. He argues that man has no natural moral instinct; morality is acquired by the individual and is an elaboration of the instinct to survive. If an individual is not taught the lessons of living in society, he will not learn that the basis of all morality is duty. In this way he criticizes the democracies of the late twentieth century and explains their ultimate failure. The promotion of the idea that certain natural rights are necessarily due each person caused young people to neglect their duties--by concentrating on the rights they think are due them. Liberty and freedom must be earned and paid for, and democracies failed because they did not understand this basic tenet. These kinds of ideas are the source of most of the criticisms directed toward Starship Troopers. I found many cogent arguments in the novel; criticism of democracy is not an endorsement of totalitarianism. Many would agree with some of the ideas Mr. Dubois puts forth (and which find their way into various places elsewhere in the book), but any agreement or disagreement should be purely intellectual. Great fiction is supposed to make us think deeply about important concepts, and Starship Troopers succeeds admirably in that regard.
Thus, Starship Troopers provides science fiction fans the best of both worlds. On the one hand, we have the well-told, gripping story of one man's military journey from boot camp to battlefields of war light years away from home, replete with several intense combat scenes. On the other hand, we have ideas of a political and philosophical nature laid out extremely well by the author, which is all but guaranteed to make you seriously think about society, government, and warfare. In the end, duty and responsibility are stressed if not glorified, and I find nothing at all subversive in that. Heinlein tells a fascinating story, and he makes you think, whether you want to or not. Few are the writers who can claim such lofty credentials.
Book Review: A lesson in History and Political Science
Summary: 5 Stars
Heinlein is not just a great science fiction/fantasy writer he is simply one of the greatest modern writers. The reason that more of this works are not made into movies is probably due to the fact that part of what makes his books and stories so great is how he presents his take on life, politics and social issues through the characters he writes about and the condition of the societies they live in. That is why the movie made from this book is nothing more than a movie based on the shell of what this book is about and really has almost nothing whatsoever to do with the book itself.While this book may seem to glorify (or perhaps even over simplify) war it really isn't a book about war at all. While a war provides the setting (and Heinlein does get a little technical) the story is really a coming of age story about a boy becoming a man in a future culture that has different standards/rules. It really doesn't matter if Heinlein is presenting this culture as having better or worse standards/rules than America, it is fiction after all, and part of the joy of reading Heinlein is the way he makes readers ponder whether or not an idea has merit or not.
Heinlein has a way of presenting arguments in his story that seem to flow effortlessly along with the action so that the reader may be getting a lesson (or a lecture) on history or politics and yet not mind at all, the work stays a work of fiction and the reader is compelled forward as in any good novel.
Some important thoughts I got from the book:
1. Women can serve many roles, some even better than men, but a society that puts women in the infantry as a front line solider is a society that has lost its moral compass. It is ironic that in the movie version there were women serving in combat units just the opposite of what happens in the book.
2. Forced "service" isn't service at all, it is slavery. Heinlein never wrote about conscription as being a good thing for a society. Men that don't want to fight for liberty, justice and to protect women and children have no honor.
3. Recruitment into the military should be difficult (at least into the combat branches). Contrast that with today's military recruiters that lie about the military to get young men and women to sign up. In the book Johnny is told how hard it will be, how terrible combat can be, he is given the chance to change his mind.
4. Once in the combat unit training part of the story Heinlein presents a very tough and strenuous boot camp. Also it is as realistic as possible (men can die in training). While I don't want to call my boot camp experience "easy" (Fort Knox 1991) I can say that the policy at the time seemed to be filled with waste and was still geared towards the "dumb conscript" mentality.
5. Voting should be more than just a generic right to everyone 18 and older. Some states currently have restrictions regarding the voting rights of felons, so the basic tenet that Heinlein presents here isn't all that shocking, he just presents a society that has a bigger expectation than "don't be a rapist or a murder".
6. Heinlein foresaw many developments in military science, but more importantly I think, he saw that the countries on this planet were going to become more dependent on each other as time goes by. As we become more "global" in nearly all aspects of life this theme of the book really rings true. While I don't foresee the earth being attacked by alien bugs any time soon, the fact that there can be global "wars" against terrorism, disease or natural and man made disasters that can have effects on many countries simultaneously is not something limited to the realm of science fiction.
I give this book a very strong recommendation. My only reservation is that to really enjoy and to fully understand any of Heinlein's books it really helps to have read a few of them already.
Book Review: Wow, what a book for logic and reason
Summary: 5 Stars
First of all, regardless of what you thought of the movie, the book is different. Not just different in some ways, but almost (but not quite) to the degree that the movie "The Lawnmower Man" was completely different from Steven King's short story of the same title.It does indeed seem light on the action, as compared to the movie and other 'science fiction' novels. However, the action is realistic. Even in the book, the main character comments on how modern warfare is akin to the pilots views of it back in WW2, "Endless hours of sheer boredom broken sporadically by random bits of utter terror". Gentlemen, that is battle. The motivations, of characters, are plainly laid out in a way that any can relate to. The maturing and enlightening process strikes so true to many people's hearts. The scientific concepts are obviously well thought out, as opposed to the 'flashing out of sequence lights' approach that too many science fiction writers take. Heinlein approaches the future aspect of the book with a very realistic, results oriented method. Technological wonders are there as obvious tools of man, as opposed to man becoming dependant on them for basic skills of life. It is obvious his predictive strategies, technology and the impact on society are well thought out, with a fresh and needed denial of the urge (as many sci-fi writers have) to make the technological toys first, then throw the people in as an afterthought while gluing the two together with technobabble. (e.g. tachyons, gravitons, etc)
One of the best aspects of the book is how it emphasizes the symbiotic relationship of freedom and responsibility. The USA was the first successful attempt on Earth to bring this idea to fruition. It was alien then, and unfortunately seems to be an alien subject now. Heinlein stresses that age old adage of vigilance, not complacence, being the eternal price of freedom.
Some claim here that it is fascism. This is much like when a child learns a new taunt or slanderous word that will cause an emotional response in others, proportional to his/her own emotional turmoil. Fascism never was about freedom and liberty, much less personal responsibility. Fascism, like communism (you DID know fascism is a socialistic form of socioeconomic governmental control, didn't you?) is about power and violence, it is about controlling others and giving mindless obedience to the state. Here, Heinlein spells out how in his future world, the state is not the government, but rather the people who make up the country that the government comes from. "Freedoms and liberties are greatest, laws the smallest, taxes the lowest" See how that goes together? Many will attack this, because the idea of responsibility and accountability scare them, much like a braggart bully is frightened if anyone ever stands up to him. Understand your rants and your words before you spew them, or you will find you do more harm then good. Personally I find it both amusing and alarming when someone who claims to be such a champion of 'the people' touts his or her claims that freedom is what they want... yet their idea of freedom and openness is to destroy and censor all who do not agree with them, look like them, wear the appropriate clothes (the 'official socially conscious' gear) or have the incorrect amount of melanin in their skin cells. Freedom through tyranny seems to be these people's true chant. If you like both a good sci-fi book and enjoy applying critical thought (not to mention if you enjoy reading your history books instead of burning them) then this book is for you.