Starship Troopers

Rating:
Summary: A gauntlet thrown down
Review: Starship Troopers does not advocate a facist goverment! It considers a democracy where individuals who desire the right to vote must prove that they are willing to pay the cost of freedom. The fact, that so many people today find this requirement for personal responsibility threatening, does not bode well for our nation. I first read the novel in a high school English class. I was a 16 year old punk at the time. It greated a great deal of debate, to say the least, but had a profound impact on me. I enlisted in the Marine Corps on my 18th birthday, against the wishes of my parents, and have served, as both an enlisted Marine and Marine Officer, for 11 years. I have reread the book several times and was excited to learn, in 1992, that the Commandant of the Marine Corps had made Starship Troopers required reading for all Marines. Read this book with an open mind. It is science fiction literature, more importantly it challenges the reader to examine our role in society.Bryon J. Fugate

Rating:
Summary: Reviews are literary Rorschach tests...
Review: While ignoring the comments like, "Nazi," "Fascist," "socialcommentary," and "not enough explosions and virtual reality," some ofthe reviews for Starship Troopers are insightful and interesting.

However, even with all the commentaries, there are STILL factual mistakes and misconceptions:

Suffrage is granted only to those who complete civil service.
...Not military service, not medical experiments. The idea was that only those who could prove the ability to work towards a common goal should be allowed to vote for the common good. It's a simple concept. Since military service required risk of life and limb, parity was acheived by making all forms of civil service equally trying.

This book was written in 1959, folks. Consider that the hero comes from a rich non-white family; at the time, even THAT was daring. Juan Rico starts as a snotty know-nothing kid and learns all sorts of unpleasant facts as the book progresses. And the technology goodies in the book aren't outdated yet: female pilots have faster reaction times, drop-chutes fail sometimes, and "this is a thirty second bomb..."

Finally, this is one of Heinlein's "adolescent" books. It was supposed to be a fun, slam-bang, action book. Within that context, there's lots of hidden meat -mostly pointing out that war hurts and that most people don't take responsibility for their own actions, let alone for a group.

It's a fun read for anyone over ten years old. Anything beyond that is icing. For such a simple book, it sure does generate a lot of heat.


Wish I'd had a Comparative Morals class in high school. I wish you did, too.

Rating:
Summary: Universal truths about the military
Review: "Violence, naked force, has solved more issues in history than any other factor, and the contrary thinking is wishful thinking at its worse. Breeds that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and freedoms."

I am not a big fan of science fiction, but I heard this novel was excellent. This novel is still applicable today. The Cold War is not the End of History. Human nature being what it is, we will always have war and strife. Heinlein explains the role of the military in defense and support of civilization.

The story follows the metamorphosis of a "civilian" into a "citizen", a boy who joins the military to impress a girl and becomes a man in the mobile infantry.

Society is divided into civilians, citizens, and the military. Civilians volunteer for the military, which is the only route to becoming a citizen. The citizens, the only voting class, run the government.

"Since sovereign franchise is the ultimate in human authority, we insure that all who wield it accept the ultimate in social responsibility-we require each person who wishes to exert control over the state to wager his own life-and lose it, if need be-to save the life of the state."

Don't expect a plot-driven novel. There are few action scenes. This is more of a character-driven story with Heinlein outlining his views.

Heinlein interweaves strong viewpoints on politics and the military into an excellent story without too much technical explanation. The story skips around a bit, making the plot hard to follow at times, but I highly recommend it for its interesting theories.

Rating:
Summary: The classic
Review: Heinlein was the successor to the H.G. Wellsian tradition of sociological science fiction. Like Wells, Heinlein excelled at taking certain scientific and technological factors, extrapolating from them, and then building a plausible society on those elements.

There are a lot of great aspects to this book. Heinlein's depiction of what life might be like aboard a large starship is startling in its breadth and depth of detail, and just overall realism.

However, for me the best parts are the pitched ground battles between the Federation Mobile Infantry troops and the various alien species. Heinlein realizes these in spectacular fashion. You feel as if you're right there in the middle of the action. This is one of the things he is truly great at, and it made a tremendous impact on me when I read the book for the first time in the early 60's as a young teenager, only a few years after the book was published.

Some people have criticized this book for apparently proposing a system of government based upon a military oligarchy, since only people who have served in the military can vote. Perhaps this was the society that Heinlein himself wanted to live in. This seems plausible because he seems so earnest about the idea in the book.

However, he isn't consistent on this point. In Double-Star, for example, another of his Hugo-Award winning novels, the Earth has a parliamentary system headed up by a brilliant Prime Minister, the Honorable Bonforte. Other books seem to propose other governmental systems as the model.

However, I can't say as this system sounds so bad to me now, after having had 8 years of a President who is more interested in getting blow-jobs than in serving the American people (and I'm a Democrat). It might be better than our current system where politicians, whether Democratic or Republican, can be bought for relatively small sums of money, and there are virtually no moral and ethical standards anymore. (I would feel slightly better if I thought they could only be bought for very large sums of money, after all, why sell out cheap?)

In Heinlein's future, the universe is a very dangerous place, and someone who has volunteered for military service has at least demonstrated he is willing, at some level, to put his own self-interest below that of society's. Does anybody really believe our politicians hold such ideals anymore?

However, people have made too much of the politics in this book. Even in a science-fiction book politics makes for dull reading. This is really a book about a futuristic ground war and the characters who fight it. The story makes for exciting reading if only for that.

Rating:
Summary: Still timely, and as thought-provoking as ever.
Review: When I was in my early teens, I read nearly everything Heinlein had written up to that point. The themes of 'The Moon is a Harsh Mistress' ("TANSTAAFL") and Starship Troopers (citizenship must be earned) are among those I still remember most vividly.

These themes led me to follow Heinlein's own example, and choose the Navy when I faced the war in Vietnam and the draft lottery at age 19. Left-handed, non-athletic and somewhat solitary, I'd have made a terrible cap trooper and an even worse Marine. But I did okay in submarines. Today I wear a ponytail and work in software, and my politics have swung leftward to cross the centerline. But I still agree with the basic premise of Starship Troopers: while the <> to earn full citizenship must be open to all, there is a lot to be said for expecting people to earn their right to hold elected office in some fashion.

As a Heinlein character points out in Starship Troopers, military service needn't be the only means of earning this right. The key is for each candidate to have first spent significant time and effort contributing individually--and at some level of personal sacrifice--to the well-being of the nation and its people. To extend Heinlein's list of citizenship paths somewhat, I would add the following examples:

- service in VISTA or the Peace Corps

- full-time service in an American Red Cross disaster relief unit

- as a full-time mother, successfully raising one child through completion of high school with a B average, no suspensions, and no arrests

- full-time practice as a certified health-care professional (physician, registered nurse, pharmacist, etc.) providing low-cost service to under-served populations (examples include both inner-city and rural communities)

- full-time service as a certified public-school teacher, guidance counselor or principal in under-served rural or inner-city communities

- full-time service as a policeman, sheriff's deputy, state trooper, community corrections officer, prison psychologist, or Child Protective Service officer

- military service in the Army (including the Corps of Engineers), Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps or Coast Guard, or any of their reserve or National Guard units

- full-time service in the Environmental Protection Agency, in the NOAA uniformed service, as a ranger in the National Park Service or the USDA Forest Service, or in a similar public-service conservation role

- full-time public service to under-served communities as a registered professional engineer (P.E.), working to improve water, waste disposal, public utility and transportation systems

There could be many more such paths to an earned citizenship, but Heinlein's basic premise that it should be earned is still worth investigating.

It's also worth noting that all four of the upcoming presidential election's currently credible candidates have--each in his own way--met Heinlein's minimum criteria for full citizenship. Alphabetically: Bradley was in the Air Force Reserve; Bush served as a pilot in the Air National Guard; Gore served as an enlisted Army journalist in Vietnam; and McCain's service as a Navy pilot included several years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. That's food for thought.

I thought the movie did little justice to the book. But Starship Troopers is well worth reading again as we approach the presidential primary season, and I'm grateful to Robert Heinlein for writing it.

Hmmm... Governor Jesse Ventura of Minnesota also meets Heinlein's criteria, since he served as a Navy SEAL. D'you suppose he ever read Starship Troopers?

Rating:
Summary: Interesting book...-but I liked the film better
Review: I did see the film first, and I enjoyed it. I expected that in reading the book, that I would gain much more background on the film. Such was definitely not the case!

The film can stand on its own, but it should not be taken to truly reflect the contents of the book. The book is much more philosophical and character-driven.

The film surely depicts the Heinlein Citizen-State as fascist. The book does not depict this as strongly, and I would argue that, without having read more of Heinlein's other work and gaining background information on his core beliefs (i. e. a biography), it is difficult to determine from this work alone what he is trying to tell us. I suspect that it is critical in interpreting this work to understand the 1950s context in which it was conceived.

In any case, this work should NOT be taken as simply a recreational sci-fi novel for beach reading. It seems the author intended rather more than that in composing it.

Rating:
Summary: Labeled fascist by some, I would call is rational instead
Review: Forget the movie, Starship Troopers is not an action, adventure story, but is a sociopolitical study of war and society in a somewhat distant future. Labeled fascist by some, I would call is realistic and rational instead. After the failure of democracy and various and sundry world-wars, the human race decides that political power falls in the wrong hand and henceforth only "citizens" can vote or hold political office. The only way to become a citizen is to serve as a soldier, which is generally peacetime duty. The reason for this is simple, only those people who actually care about their fellow man, as demonstrated by a willingness to die for them, have adequately demonstrated that they are fit to serve society (rather than just serve themselves...). We follow the initiation of one Juan Rico as he makes the transition from civilian to soldier and citizen. The terrifying war with the bugs is just an interesting backdrop to make the soldiers sacrifice more meaningful and actually plays a fairly small part in the book . It's worth noting that Starship Troopers was written in 1959, where a new generation of America's leaders were emerging from our pool of WWII heroes. I think Heinlein's vision was that of a better future where former soldiers would guide our society to a new morality and responsibility.

Rating:
Summary: The novel helped get me through a very long and scary night.
Review: I was very young and very frightened when I first read this book along with Glory road . I cannot recall how I appropriated both volumes , but I have never regretted the moment I reached over and began to read them . Heinlein's novel is NOT a story about the so called crypto facists ideal society as one moronic reviewer reported. I would recommend said people to read this book in context with other books he wrote during his life time . Heinlein believed that the sexs were equal while simulataneously he believed that those who need the aide of those of us who have testosterone should expect aide or counsel without care about reciprocity. Read the tale about the nameless hobo who gave his life without hesitation in the futile attempt to save the wife of total stranger . To you have never had the experiece when death looks you square in the eye and you survive.... I can never explain to you what it means to live past that moment and the life lived beyound it . Johnny Rico filipino-american and starship trooper would understand even you of the PC crowd might understand a bit but I doubt it . To the ever lasting honor to those who believe in their souls 'to free the opressed' and those willing to spend their lifes blood in the attempt. Yours Al Padavano

Rating:
Summary: Quality Heinlein
Review: Here's one way of looking at it. Science fiction is the situational inverse of historical fiction, the interpolation of a fictional narration not within the confines of a precise past but a theoretical future. Whenever I begin a new Science Fiction creative writing class, this is one of the first books I ask my students to pick up. What makes "Starship Troopers" so qualified as a resource? Plot-wise, this novel is nothing but stock quality, something my students could scribble out without breaking a sweat, but that is not the purpose or the goal intended.

This book is contextually similar to perhaps a thousand Sci-Fi novels written in the past fifty years, and half a hundred of which written by this most prolific author. No feature of the scenes, setting, or - most especially - character development in this novel will strike you as ingenious or unique, but Heinlein has penned here a book only superficially based on such elements. His motive is something grander, the ambition of all good Science Fiction writers: to interpret one's breed of history and future history, social setting, and perhaps even global expectations in the time period or environment discussed.

Inspecting the actual term "science fiction" reveals a co-importance of both science fact and fictional activity. One of the most famous sagas of our genre is the ongoing series of Star Wars - but how much scientific attention have you witnessed here? Novels (or movies) like these may seem to fit the field, but they are nothing more than the fantasy genre's technological subfield. "Starship Troopers," on the other hand, commonly puts individual characters and action on the back burner to focus on political theory and sociology. Early on in this novel Heinlein makes the point that, according to his future, "History and Moral Philosophy" are classified right along Math, Biology, and Physics as sciences, and his book serves through character debates, philosophizing, anecdotal supplements, and numerous other means to describe just what his vision of the subject is. He sees his present society (via 1959), and extrapolates onto this a teleologically final social order of mankind. The ideas he pulls out might seem tinted with age in particular regards to psychological theory, but they are undoubtedly thought out to the last detail. Like Aristotle, we cannot and do not fault him for his historical perspective.

This is not to imply, however, that a book with a name like "Starship Troopers" is all theory and no action. Heinlein knows balance and ease of communication, and it is not his ideas but his integration and high placement of these into a storyline that keeps readers, and therefore wins the novel. The result is a work most highly thoughtful, imaginative, and engaging, and not without its due share of adrenalin-pumped activity. All in all, I find this to be a model study on Science Fiction writing - something my students are happy to read as a pleasure, but something that will leave you thoughtfully questioning our own military and societal superiority.

Rating:
Summary: An incredible book destroyed by a horrible movie
Review: I first read Starship Troopers when I was 16, and since then I have always come back to it. It is full of quotes and relevant philosophy for our modern age. The average reader takes only the seemingly fascist overtones that are present in the book, but they do not see the deep analysis of why the current system of rule works. There is a specific passage where an instructor in Juan's O.C.S. informs the class that during peacetime, most of the veterans that come from the Federal Service (and have the right to vote in Heinlein's world) are not soldiers, but rather come form the non-combatant auxiliary services. This key point is often overlooked in reviews that paint the novel as a fascist war utopia. Heinlein uses the science fiction genre to explore pressing philosophical questions with his novels, and Starship Troopers is no different.

This novel asks the reader to do a lot of thinking about their beliefs and philosophy, especially about the concepts of humanity and citizenship. I think that everybody should read this novel, especially those who consider themselves "liberal." Often times I have found that many people take being a citizen of the United States for granted (especially liberals, but some conservatives as well). There is not a glorification of conservative values here, just an examination of what it means to be a citizen of a government and to serve your government. That's the reason the U.S. Marine Corps has this book on its required reading list for O.C.S. students.

I personally really dislike the movie. Verhoeven destroyed a great novel with his arrogance and lust for sex and violence. The only redeeming value in the movie is the special effects. Hopefully in the future a director will want to tackle the challenge of bringing powered armor to the silver screen.