Product Description

It is told through the eyes of Starship Trooper Johnny Rico, from his idealistic enlistment in the infantry of the future, through his rigorous training to the command of his own platoon of infantrymen.

His destiny is a galactic war of unlimited violence and destruction, in which he and his fellow troopers scour the metal-strewn emptiness of space to hunt down a terrifying enemy - an insect life form which threatens the very future of mankind.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9570 in Books
• Published on: 2005-03-14
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Synopsis
It is told through the eyes of Starship Trooper Johnny Rico, from his idealistic enlistment in the infantry of the future, through his rigorous training to the command of his own platoon of infantrymen. His destiny is a galactic war of unlimited violence and destruction, in which he and his fellow troopers scour the metal-strewn emptiness of space to hunt down a terrifying enemy - an insect life form which threatens the very future of mankind.

About the Author
Robert A. Heinlein was one of the greatest science fiction writers of the century and won the coveted Hugo Award on several occasions. He died in 1989.

Customer Reviews

Controversial but naive
Robert A. Heinleins novel "Starship Troopers" still creates controversy, generations after it was first published. Indeed, the well-known movie "Starship Troopers" was actually a veiled criticism of the book!

Is Heinlein's book racist or fascist? Is it a Cold War allegory? Is it anti-democratic and militarist? How does this novel square with Heinlein's reputation for being a libertarian and near-hippie? These questions are still being hotly debated.

"Starship Troopers" describe a future society in which only people who have served in the military enjoy full citizenship rights. Only honorably discharged soldiers have the right to vote and run for office. Strangely enough, the non-citizens enjoy freedom of speech, freedom of worship and the right to start businesses. Heinlein's future society thus looks like modern America, but with a Marine Corps-like military caste superimposed on top. In the novel, humanity wages a never-ending war against several races of intelligent space aliens, including the collectivist Arachnids, who resemble spiders. Many people take the Arachnids to be a symbol for Communism in general or Red China in particular. Imperial Japan is another possibility.

Heinlein's novel attempts to solve that ancient question: how can a society make sure that the best people serve in office? This question is particularly acute in democracies, where anyone can stand for office, and everyone can vote. Heinlein's solution is to limit the franchise to those who have served in the military. In this way, only the best are selected for the job. And those willing to put their lives on the line must be the best. But does that really solve the problem?

A military is not necessarily a good administrator or politician. The best in times of peace might be different from the best in times of war. Heinlein's system only works if a total and never-ending war is raging. Indeed, the war against the Arachnids certainly seem to be such. But if so, it's naive to expect freedom of speech or extensive rights for non-citizens. The system would become a military dictatorship pure and simple, like in the movie "Starship Troopers".

The soldiers in the novel are probably inspired by the philosopher-kings and Guardians of Plato's "Republic". After rigorous military training, the officers are given courses in moral philosophy, history and politics. But there are also similiarities with ancient Athenian democracy. Every citizen of ancient Athens was expected to serve in the army or navy. There was a connection between rights and duties. But note that many non-citizens in Athens were slaves!

Ultimately, "Starship Troopers" is unconvincing, even naive. You simply cannot give political power to the military, no matter how the military is recruited, and expect everything else to stay the same.

Short, as most books ought to be
I'll try to make my review short; as the title says, the book is short - about 1 cm thick. Good books, including good SF doesn't have to be thick like a brick.

Now about the content - the emphasis or overtones of the book are political, despite all the SF-mandaory inclusion of interstellar travel, starships, superweapons and whatnot; politics were one of Heinlein's major pet rocks.

A criticism I often hear of this book (or the movie, rather, since more people have snapshots from the movie in their mind's eye when the title is thrown up into the air) is that is it fascist in some way. This is however wrong. The trigger for this knee-jerk reaction is most likely from the movie, and the costume designs for the movie uniforms (which considering that military imagery and themes take an absolutely dominant position) obviously look like the ones that Nazi germans wore during WWII - largely same fashion, hues and decorations - that is one immediate explanation of the faulty association.

Another - IMO the more important, which does not depend on the choices of the film crew/firector - is the actual book content, specifically the early part where there is discussion of why "democracy of the old days" was abandoned. But again, it wasn't as such - what was abandoned was the notion that all have an equal right to vote and influence public policy.

What is instead offered is the model where only people who have served in the Armed Services are allowed full rights of Citizenship; apart from rights to free speech etc. which all 'baseline' citizens enjoy (the existence of which debunks the notion that the system presented in the book is fascist) - only full Citizens are allowed to vote and hold public office.

Thus, the book's political backdrop is not one of a fascist dictatorship, but that of a limited franschise democracy, not much different from that of pre-WWI Western nations.

What is also worth noting is that Switzerland, which is probably the oldest functioning democracy in the current/Western mold, was founded on this exact idea, namely that to be able to vote, you had to show dedication to the community beforehand, by being willing to fight for the defense of the nation. This would proabaly give pause to many who claim that Heinlein was rooting for fascism.

(Lastly, Heinlein was anti-authoritarian to a degree of bordering on the anarchist. Wikipedia offers more detail, which is naturally recommended reading.)

Great Book
I first read "Starship Troopers" as a young teenager in 1960 and it had a massive effect on me. Apart from being a first rate story, even at the tender age of 14 I agreed with Heinlein's philosophies.
At the time it was released (1959) the book was attacked as being "fascist". However, it has stood the test of time well, and there are many of us who would welcome Heinlein's method of dealing with troublesome youngsters and adults.
Take a walk around any council estate at night (if you dare) and see if you wouldn't agree to young thugs being publicly flogged.
Excellent book - my 1960 copy (cost 5/- in old money) has fallen to bits and I have purchased another from Amazon. One of the best sci-fi books ever written.
Read and enjoy (and the film ain't too bad either!)

PS Whoever proof read this print must have had a lisp. When refering to British and American warships they are prefixed "HMS" and "USS" and not
"HMF" and "USF" (Page 167)