Rating: 
Summary: Fictional Hate....
Review: Bah.... I picked up this book as I have always liked reading about future accounts of america in times of trouble... but this book has the same literary value as a mormonized version of Star Trek. To Bodly go where no missionaires have gone before.The only people that might like this book are people that watch Fox News Network and actually beleave the drivel that comes from that place. I suspect that the author got his matterial from watching that channel sense his science sucks... his timeframe doesn't make sense... and his blatent disrespect for other people is drastic. About the only thing he isn't is racist.... but one wonders if that is his own choice... or just something that the editors removed at the last momment before publication. Bah... don't bother reading this book.
Rating: 
Summary: interesting cautionary tale
Review: By 2060, whether terrorism is real or used by politicians to control the masses, several laws including the Patriot and Victory Acts curtail individual rights for the collective security of the nation. The current President Wilhelmina Rottemeyer is establishing a dictatorship after "stealing" the election. Now she begins to use the military to further her attempts at consolidating control in a police state. In Waco, Texas, the military assaults the Del Gloria Mission killing twenty-six children among others. Texas Governor Juanita Seguin is horrified at the wanton unnecessary death and destruction. She concludes that more is coming from DC unless leaders like her lead the fight back. The second war of independence has begun in Austin. Though conceptually quite interesting and overall well written in spite of a bungee jumping plot, this cautionary tale simplifies the conservative vs. liberal debate in this country by making everything on the right acceptable and everything from the left evil. Thus the President apparently is that malevolent incarnate Hilary destroying freedom while the Governor seems like the Greatest American hero George saving democracy. Ignoring that the Patriot Act was passed by a right wing Republican controlled House, equal sided Senate and signed by a right wing Republican President, the novel does raise issues of security vs. freedom in an exciting thriller. Though the fear should be of both extremes (shocking but Ruby Ridge occurred during the Bush the senior administration), Tom Kratman makes a strong case in this gripping futuristic political military thriller for when is it acceptable to go beyond civil disobedience to outright revolt against the government. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining and thought-provoking
Review: First, three stars to me is quite a good book:)
Continuing, those of you who will read this book with an open mind will find a lot to make you think. Unfortunately, my personal experience with political ideas in the minds of others seems to indicate that we are, as a nation, sinking further and further into a mindset of 'let the government provide for me", and that is what the book warns against. The stripping of our constitutionally given rights progresses further every day in real life, and Tom Kratman explores the 'what if?' of our future.
Rating:
Summary: I thought it was a satire....
Review: I thought this book was an over-the-top satire along the lines of Norman Spinrad's satire THE IRON FIST (an example of how Hitler would have written an 1930s science-fiction novel), complete with cardboard characters, B-movie violence, and foam-at-the-mouth political rantings, until I realized that the author was serious. My advice: write the author and ask for your money back.
Rating:
Summary: Too stereotyped
Review: I will keep this short as many of the problems I have with the book have already been listed. In the wake of the Patriot Act (I & II), as well as Clinton's early heavyhandedness at Ruby Ridge and Waco, this book is a farce. I honestly can't believe in "surgeon general's police," helicopters and tanks destroying a mission, or any of the other drivel presented as bad government. The old political spectrum of liberal-conservative really no longer matters when both Republicans and Democrats alike only increase the power of the state versus the individual. "Penthouse letters" lesbianism, and a list of straw men for proud gun-totin' Texans to destroy began to wear on me after a while. Stuff does get blowed up real good, and there are some well written scenes, but this book is like the worst of L Neil Smith's libertarian works. A thin veneer of story over obvious political diatribe.
In summation: Liberal = BAD, Conservative = GOOD, and rewriting the constitution to reflect whatever immediate idiocy captures our attention is the best way to insure more government intervention in our lives, not less.
Rating: 
Summary: Definitely needs work
Review: I will keep this short as many of the problems I have with the book have already been listed. In the wake of the Patriot Act (I & II), as well as Clinton's early heavyhandedness at Ruby Ridge and Waco, this book is a farce. I honestly can't believe in "surgeon general's police," helicopters and tanks destroying a mission, or any of the other drivel presented as bad government. The old political spectrum of liberal-conservative really no longer matters when both Republicans and Democrats alike only increase the power of the state versus the individual. "Penthouse letters" lesbianism, and a list of straw men for proud gun-totin' Texans to destroy began to wear on me after a while. Stuff does get blowed up real good, and there are some well written scenes, but this book is like the worst of L Neil Smith's libertarian works. A thin veneer of story over obvious political diatribe.
In summation: Liberal = BAD, Conservative = GOOD, and rewriting the constitution to reflect whatever immediate idiocy captures our attention is the best way to insure more government intervention in our lives, not less.
Rating:
Summary: Amusing Idea, but Badly Executed
Review: Imagine Hillary getting into the White House. Imagine her being all that everyone but the liberal pundits have claimed her to be and more. Imagine her doing a femilesibinazi destruct job on our Constitution, or at least trying to do so. And then imagine the reactions of those who will uphold and defend the Constitution. It couldn't happen to a nicer girl. What starts out as a nice idea with a lot of chuckles at sideswipes at various sacred liberal cows descends into sometimes dreary trudging, though. Yes, Rottemeyer is baaaad, yes, she's into girls, yes, she is trying to establish a police state. But the plot advertised itself miles in advance and was contrieved to boot. The Waco-thing left me cold. The stalward Texan governor was a bit too stalward. And let's face it, the prose is making Newt's "1945" shine in comparison. Where was the editor when he was really needed? With a bit of rather heavy editing, this could have been really enjoyable. In all, I had a bit of fun with that one, on and off. I should have waited for the paperback, though.
Rating:
Summary: Why did they publish it?
Review: Laid up as I was with a bout of flu, my sister, who shares my reading interests, bought me this book as a get well present. I had too much time on my hands, or else I would not have gotten as far as I did. I managed about three quarters of it. The flu must have reduced my resistance. This setting is an America with PATRIOT Act and VICTORY Act in place and running amuck. Enter the villainess of the story, lesbian uberliberanazi Wilhelmina Rottemeyer (the mind boggles, any connections to Heidi?), who is obviously modelled on Hillary Clinton as the far right Republicans see her, finagling the Presidency. She is hellbent on using her powers to create an eevull police state. Cue Texan Governor Seguin and the titular disobedient Lone Star State in the response to a Waco-like massacre deliberately created by Hillary, I mean Wilhelmina, and her minions. And so it goes. There are many flaws with this book, the reactionary stereotyping of anything not reactionary, i.e. librul, not being the least. Worst in my book is the utterly choppy writing. Combine it with flat characters, major plot holes, cliches along all available axes, including some made up ones, and all the charms of a political conspiracy tract and you have something that is actually downright irritating, not merely uninteresting. If you enjoy "Hilary, Janet and Lon" being badmouthed by proxy, this book may be for you, though.
Rating:
Summary: Drivel.
Review: One of the other reviewers said that if they could have given this book zero or negative stars, they would have. I heartily concur. I'd expected this to be a good story, because the author is someone who should be capable of writing one. I mean, he's a criminal lawyer and an Army colonel, so obviously he's met a few people and done a few things. Nuh-uh. This book reads like it was written by a tenth-grader who'd spent the last three years reading Fred Phelps and listening to Rush Limbaugh. Let's look at what would have been good in a book of this type. You'd want to have a main character, for one, or at least a couple of characters we can empathize with whose eyes we see the story. (As well as other guys who we also see things from, but at least one character who we can really care about.) You'd want realistic people - i.e. the bad guys aren't all completely bad, the good guys have their own flaws, people who behave and are motivated like humans. You'd want... well, it's set in the future, probably at least 2012 (two administrations after Bush are referred to), although given that one character no older than 60 is a Vietnam vet, it couldn't be any later than maybe 2007).. but even in 2007, you'd want a reference or two to technology. To CURRENT technology, at least. You'd want a plot that builds up properly, instead of lurching along unsteadily and ending with a highly unsatisfactory conclusion. Well, we don't get any of that. There's no primary viewpoint character, and no-one gets enough screen time for us to really know or empathize with them. The characters are all cardboard cut-outs; the bad guys are pure bad, the good guys are pure good, the good guys serving the bad guys all wish they were on the other side. As far as characters go there's no plausibility whatsoever. There's no references even to CURRENT technology, to blogging and the like despite the impact it would have had on things; the book could have been set in 1990. And the plot has no real buildup and no climax whatsoever. Harry Turtledove pulled this off because he was so strong in other areas; as stated, Kratman sucks in all those areas. What else? The writing style is terrible. I thought Baen had editors who, for instance, kept the same word from being used twice in a sentence when *I* could have suggested a fine symonym. (For that matter I thought Baen also published sci-fi, which this isn't.) The politics are sickeningly reactionary; we're asked to empathize with people who burn down abortion clinics and murder doctors. *I* don't like liberals, but this is taking it too far. This is Kratman's first novel. You can tell that easily, because it's probably the first attempt at a novel he's ever done. (Baen, why did you publish this?) Most first novels at least show potential; check out Freehold, by Mike Williamson, if you want one that shows *real* potential. I cannot say the same about this book. It's terribly written, badly plotted, full of cardboard stereotypes and implausible characters. We see everything through the lens of the sickeningly-extreme right (the WorldNetDaily crowd) and Kratman seems utterly ignorant of everything except military tactics and combat. (Especially of politics.) Avoid this book like the Turner Diaries.
Rating:
Summary: Simplistic Cautionary Tale
Review: State of Disobedience begins with a thinly veiled Hillary Clinton stereotype (Wilhelmina Rottemeyer) gaining the White House with a substantial majority in both houses of Congress. Rottemeyer does so with an agenda that should sound familiar to anyone following current politics: national healthcare, social security solvency, the environment and education among others. Where Rottemeyer differs from the ideal is that compliance to her "fixes" in those areas is for sale to the highest bidder. Rottemeyer quickly solidifies her position by adding 1 million new federal paramilitary enforcement officers with wide latitude to trample individual rights. She uses these officers to remove dissidents from all parties-blackmail where appropriate, trumped up charges when the target doesn't cooperate by providing blackmail material and assassination when all else fails. With all opposition neutralized, she turns her troops to enforcing her social agenda. The major plot line begins when Rottemeyer's troops attempt to arrest and kill an anti-abortion activist who seeks asylum in the Del Gloria Mission in of all places Waco, Texas. Several federal agents are killed trying to take the activist from the mission and it's decorated Vietnam veteran Priest and the government escalates with officers from many agencies including the FBI, ATF, Secret Service and Surgeon General (yup...the Surgeon General office gets a paramilitary wing), culminating with the slaughter of the mission's occupants including 25 children under the age of 12. While the specifics are different, the overall outcome closely mirrors the Waco standoff of a few years ago. One difference though...the Catholic priest who led the mission was the brother of Juanita Seguin, the Governor of Texas and the best friend of the General leading the Texas National Guard. The governor calls out the National Guard to try and save her brother, but they arrive to late to do anything but take the local federal commander into custody. The sides are drawn-the State of Texas playing David to the Federal Governments Goliath. What follows is in some ways disappointing. It seems to me that the solution to what amounts to a second American civil war came much to easily. Kratman crafts a solution where both sides bring their military might to the field and walk away without a fight. I'd like to believe that we could work out our differences in such a civilized matter and that those in positions of power would find their moral center before it came to violence. I'd like to believe that. However, I think that it is more likely that once a fight has escalated to the point that troops are on the field that a fight is likely to ensue and once people began to see friends and brothers in arms killed that stopping the fight would become that much more difficult. In the end though, Governor Seguin and the forces of good are triumphant and begin to rebuild the government so that the likes of Rottemeyer can never abuse its power again. Overall, this is an interesting story that is in some ways propaganda and some ways cautionary tale. If you consider yourself a "conservative" and don't think that "right wing" is a curse slightly better than child molester then you will probably enjoy Kratman's take on modern politics. On the other hand, if you consider yourself a "liberal" and see the NRA as the baby-killing arm of the evil empire you may find this book more an irritant than entertainment and I'd suggest you look at Balance of Power by Richard North Patterson which switches the cast of villains to the NRA, Republicans and big business.
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