From National Review -- <http://nrd.nationalreview.com/article/?
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In a Strange Land
by JOHN J. MILLER
When Robert A. Heinlein opened his Colorado Springs newspaper on
April 5, 1958, he read a full-page ad demanding that the Eisenhower
administration stop testing nuclear weapons. The science-fiction
author was flabbergasted. He called for the formation of the Patrick
Henry League and spent the next several weeks writing and publishing
his own polemic that lambasted "Communist-line goals concealed in
idealistic-sounding nonsense" and urged Americans not to become "soft-
headed."
Then Heinlein made an important professional decision. He quit
writing the manuscript he had been working on - eventually it would
become one of his best-known books, Stranger in a Strange Land - and
started work on a new novel. Starship Troopers was published the next
year, and it quickly became perhaps the most controversial sci-fi
tale of all time. Critics labeled Heinlein everything from a Nazi to
a racist. "The 'Patrick Henry' ad shocked 'em," he wrote many years
later. "Starship Troopers outraged 'em."
Almost half a century later, the book continues to outrage, shock -
and awe. It still has critics, but also armies of admirers. As a
coming-of-age story about duty, citizenship, and the role of the
military in a free society, Starship Troopers certainly speaks to
modern concerns. The U.S. armed services frequently put it on
recommended-reading lists. ("For today's Sailor, this novel is
extremely worthwhile," says a Navy website.) Director Paul Verhoeven
turned it into an unfaithful movie in 1997, and a new edition,
released last year, features a sand-and-choppers cover that looks
curiously like a scene from Iraq. There's even a grassroots campaign
to have a next-generation, Zumwalt-class destroyer named the USS
Robert A. Heinlein.
Heinlein's influence reaches far beyond a single book, of course. He
was the first sci-fi author to make the bestseller lists, the winner
of multiple awards, and the inspiration for a legion of proteges and
imitators whose own volumes now weigh down bookstore shelves. He was
not the most accomplished literary stylist in his genre, but he spun
a good yarn, grappled with big ideas, and left an enduring imprint on
a popular field. He was arguably the preeminent sci-fi author of the
20th century. One of the key differences between him and the two men
who might also compete for this title - Isaac Asimov and Arthur C.
Clarke - is that whereas they were political liberals, Heinlein was a
man of the Right.
Robert Anson Heinlein was born in Butler, Mo., on July 7, 1907. (His
centenary is now upon us.) Growing up, he became an avid reader of
everything from Mark Twain to Jack London. As biographer Bill
Patterson has pointed out, sci-fi pioneer H. G. Wells made a big
impression - and not just because he wrote about Martian tripods in
The War of the Worlds. Young Heinlein picked up Wells's twin devotion
to science and socialism.
The boy followed his brother to the Naval Academy and graduated high
in his class in 1929. Seasickness and other health problems plagued
him, however, and five years later he left the Navy with a medical
disability. He settled in Los Angeles and threw himself into left-
wing politics, joining the campaign to elect the muckraking novelist
Upton Sinclair to California's governorship in 1934. This effort
failed, but Heinlein remained a leader among local Democrats. He ran
for the state assembly from Hollywood in 1938 and lost the primary.
There is some mystery in Heinlein's early biography, partly because
Heinlein liked it that way. Virtually nothing is known about a short
first marriage, and fairly little is known about a second one that
lasted from 1932 to 1947. Only in recent years have researchers come
to appreciate the full extent of his radical activism. What's clear
is that shortly after his 1938 political defeat, he tried his hand at
professional writing. A first novel, For Us, the Living, was not
published until a posthumous edition came out in 2003, but he kept at
it. Following World War II, his career blasted off.
For a while, Heinlein concentrated on short stories for the pulps and
short novels for teenage boys. As with all great science fiction, his
constantly speculated about technology, social progress, good
government, and so on. By the early 1950s, married for a third and
final time, he was drifting away from his left-wing past and adopting
a new brand of politics. In The Puppet Masters, a 1951 novel meant
for an adult audience, slug-like alien parasites land in Iowa and
take over the minds of Americans. It falls upon a secret agency
within the U.S. government to fight back, and the fate of the world
hangs in the balance. The Puppet Masters may be read as a classic
invasion-of-the-body-snatchers story - and also as an anti-Communist
metaphor during the era of Alger Hiss, the Rosenbergs, and Joe McCarthy.
The 1950s were probably Heinlein's most prolific period, and the
decade culminated with the publication of Starship Troopers. The
story focuses on Juan Rico as he graduates from high school, joins
the space marines, and wages interplanetary war on a belligerent race
of "bugs" whose ant-like collectivism makes them natural-born
Communists. Most of the story focuses on Rico's boot camp - Starship
Troopers is dedicated "to all sargeants [sic] anywhere who have
labored to make men out of boys." The basic training is both physical
and intellectual, with readers treated to a colorful denunciation of
"the disheveled old mystic of Das Kapital, turgid, tortured,
confused, and neurotic, unscientific, illogical, this pompous fraud
Karl Marx."
One of the main non-ideological complaints about Starship Troopers
involves the plotting - too much talk and not enough shoot-'em-up
scenes against those extraterrestrial creepy-crawlies. Yet the
richness of the novel lies in these more thought-provoking sections,
where Heinlein inserts miniature monologues that sound like outtakes
from Zell Miller's GOP convention address. "My mother says that
violence never settles anything," comments one character. A teacher
who doubles as Heinlein's mouthpiece then pounces: "Violence, naked
force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor,
and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Breeds
that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives
and freedoms."
For those with delicate sensibilities - the type of people who would
pay for newspaper ads that demand nuclear-test bans - this is sheer
bombast. But Heinlein doesn't stop there. He goes on to describe a
society in which citizens gain the right to vote through military
service. His conjectures about "the decadence and collapse" of 20th-
century democracies are also designed to raise liberal hackles:
"Those noble experiments failed because the people had been led to
believe that they could simply vote for whatever they wanted . . .
and get it, without toil, without sweat, without tears." The notion
that you can't get something for nothing would become a major theme
for Heinlein.
Detractors called Heinlein a fascist and a militarist - a strange
charge, given that he was also an outspoken critic of conscription.
"If a country can't save itself through the volunteer service of its
own free people, then I say: Let the damned thing go down the drain,"
he once said. As for labels, around the time Starship Troopers came
out, he called himself "a pragmatic libertarian."
Heinlein certainly wasn't a conservative traditionalist. His most
popular book, in terms of copies sold, was Stranger in a Strange Land
- a paean to sexual liberation and an attack on organized religion.
Published in 1961, it resonated with hippies and gave Heinlein a mass
following. Yet the author, despite a lifelong interest in unusual
family arrangements, remained aloof from the counterculture: In 1964,
he and his wife Virginia were enthusiastically for Barry Goldwater. A
few years later, according to Robert A. Heinlein: A Reader's
Companion, he signed a magazine ad that supported U.S. military
involvement in Vietnam.
In his recent book Radicals for Capitalism, Brian Doherty observes
that "a youthful love for Heinlein's tales of rugged individualists
often lies in the past of dedicated libertarian activists" - a
statement that's possible in large measure because of the 1966 novel
that many regard as Heinlein's greatest: The Moon Is a Harsh
Mistress. The story takes place mostly within a lunar colony, where
the residents grow restless under a command-and-control economy
imposed by the Lunar Authority, a government that operates for the
benefit of earthlings. "Here in Luna we're rich. Three million
hardworking, smart, skilled people, enough water, plenty of
everything, endless power, endless cubic," says one of the moon-
dwelling Loonies. "What we don't have is a free market. We must get
rid of the Authority!" A few pages later: "It strikes me as the most
basic human right, the right to bargain in a free marketplace."
The Loonies rebel in ways that echo the American Revolution, such as
declaring independence on July 4, 2076. There are battles, diplomatic
missions, debates on hydroponic-food exports - plus lots of
discussion about how societies ought to organize themselves. Heinlein
makes his distaste for taxes abundantly clear. There's even some
chatter about immigration policy: "Luna has room . . . the mind
cannot imagine the day when Luna would refuse another shipload of
weary homeless." For a catchy slogan, the Loonies use "There ain't no
such thing as a free lunch." Frequently expressed as the acronym
"TANSTAAFL," the Milton Friedmanesque phrase is probably the most
famous line in Heinlein's large oeuvre.
Although idealistic, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress steers clear of
libertarian fantasyland. Heinlein is well aware that revolutions
don't lead to utopia, and the successful lunar revolt is no
different. By the novel's end, the moon's new government has rejected
the innovations that Heinlein apparently believes it should have
embraced: "Seems to be a deep instinct in human beings for making
everything compulsory that isn't forbidden," complains the narrator,
who considers lighting out for the asteroids. There's certainly no
point in fighting human nature: "I long ago quit being disappointed
in men for what they are not and never can be," says another
character, expressing a sentiment that is nothing if not conservative.
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress was Heinlein's last great work. He
continued to write until his death in 1988, overcoming health
problems to do it and engaging in politics when it seemed
appropriate. Heinlein was an early backer of the Strategic Defense
Initiative and, according to his friend and fellow sci-fi author
Jerry Pournelle, he helped develop some of the language President
Reagan used in his speech introducing the concept.
At the time, Reagan's domestic foes derided SDI as pure science
fiction. To drive home the point, they even dubbed it "Star Wars." If
Heinlein had lived to his 100th birthday - and witnessed recent
advances in missile-defense technology - he might have smiled at
their fulminations, and maybe even written a book about the subject.
* * *
Robert A. Heinlein wasn't the only author to write sci-fi novels that
resonate with conservatives - the genre is full of books that lean
rightward. Here's a list of recommended titles, drawn from my own
experience as well as suggestions from readers of National Review
Online.
We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin: Soviet censors banned this landmark novel
shortly after it was written in 1921 because they correctly
interpreted its portrayal of the One State" as a hammering critique
of their own emerging totalitarianism. Two better-known dystopian
successors - Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and George Orwell's 1984
- stand upon its broad shoulders.
Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength, by
C. S. Lewis: Before he wrote the Chronicles of Narnia, Lewis wrote
this space trilogy, which blends interplanetary adventure with subtle
theology. The books were started partly in response to Lewis's
concern that (in his words) Ra 'scientific' hope of defeating death
is a real rival to Christianity.S
The Weapon Shops of Isher, by A. E. van Vogt: In this 1951 novel by a
sci-fi pioneer, the only check on imperial power is a network of
weapon shops whose motto is "the right to buy weapons is the right to
be free." But beware of invisibility shields!
Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury: Often hailed as a simple cautionary
tale about book-burning censorship, this perennial favorite of
librarians is really about much more, from the perils of a dumbed-
down culture to the importance of preserving traditions. Russell Kirk
called it "a passionate and tender and terrifying description of a
democratic despotism." Aficionados of the book will appreciate Match
to Flame, a brand-new volume edited by Donn Albright that collects
precursors to Bradbury's 1953 masterpiece.
A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller Jr.: Just as Irish
monks are said to have "saved Western civilization," the Catholic
Church keeps tradition alive in the barbaric years following a
nuclear apocalypse. The final section of this three-part novel,
written in the 1950s, makes a powerful moral argument against
euthanasia. Ironically, the author committed suicide in 1996.
"Harrison Bergeron," by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.: Although Vonnegut was a
man of the Left, this tale is so conservative that NR reprinted it in
1965. The opener: "The year was 2081, and everybody was finally
equal . . . due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the
Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United
States Handicapper General." Coming in at just a little more than
2,000 words, this is a short-short story. "Harrison Bergeron" may be
found in Welcome to the Monkey House, a collection of Vonnegut's work.
Rendezvous with Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke: A classic work of hard sci-
fi - a subgenre that emphasizes technical accuracy and detail - this
1972 story focuses on the discovery of a derelict alien spacecraft.
It turns out that modern science can't solve every enigma. Fans of
tidy and conclusive endings will come away disappointed, others with
much to ponder.
The Mote in God's Eye, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle: It's hard
to go wrong with Niven and Pournelle, whether they're writing
separately or as a team. This 1974 novel of first contact carries
lessons for conservative hawks and liberal doves. Heinlein called it
"possibly the best science-fiction novel I have ever read." Other
Niven-Pournelle collaborations worth checking out include Oath of
Fealty, about urban conflict in the future, and Fallen Angels (with a
third co-author, Michael Flynn), which is a forerunner to Michael
Crichton's anti-global-warming thriller State of Fear.
The Giver, by Lois Lowry: This powerful and disturbing book won the
Newbery Medal for children's literature in 1994. Just beneath the
surface of a seemingly utopian society lurks a menacing culture of
death, built upon a foundation of euphemisms and lies.
- JOHN J. MILLER
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R. A. Hettinga