Far, far more than a simple juvenile space yarn!

books:


	• Starship Troopers Robert A. Heinlein Ace, 1987 - 272 pages average customer review:based on 679 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Controversy? What controversy?

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.

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Well Ahm John Wayne

Interesting to see many adults take this book at absolute face value when Heinlein wrote it as a junior novel. He wrote it with the intent of entertaining teenage boys and challenging them to think a little. As I read Heinlein's cheerfully bombastic speeches defending his militaristic society, I couldn't help but imagine the author with tongue firmly placed in cheek. His adult "mentors" are ludicrously insulting and condescending as they argue with fanatical conviction for a method of governance that benefits them and few others directly. They simply bully their impressionable teenage audience into agreeing with them. It's hard to think for yourself with someone screaming insults in your face. No real effort is made to provide a coherent, reasoned counterarguement for Heinlein's Prussia of the future. Imagine a world run by militaristic, macho, self-congratulatory blowhards. What's in it for the other 99.9% of society?

Heinlein imagines a society with extraordinarily rigid standards for citizenship. Only those with military experience can become citizens and vote. Judging by the protagonist and his peers, one does not have to be particularly bright, thoughtful, moral or skilled in anything besides blowing stuff up in order to serve in the military. Only those with superior physical ability and a willingness to conform need apply. At the beginning of the novel, Johnnie Ricco is an empty vessle. By the end, he is filled to the brim with other people's indoctrination. He even submits to "hypnotherapy" brainwashing.

Beneath the surface, Heinlein seems to be cautioning against an elitist, militaristic society. He references the past as a time of laxness of morals and patriotism. His point is that Democracy must be protected by everyone in order to be practiced by everyone. If we fail to protect our freedoms, then this less-than-ideal society is a possible future.

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Honored

I was in my late teens when I first read the book (and I am female). It made a big impact on me. Morality is learned. Every citizen must earn their rights. Duty and responsibility are essential to an ordered society. On re-reading several times, the lessons never changed, but did become more understood.

In my job, I have found that evasion of duty and responsibility cause problems to the individual and society. Heinlein helped me see that. I am honored to add my 5 stars.

Far, far more than a simple juvenile space yarn!

On the face of it, an exciting juvenile adventure story in a marvelous classic hard sci-fi setting! The edition I read summarizes it well, "The Mobile Infantry of the startling twenty-second century attracts young and eager to serve Johnnie Rico. He enters basic training as a naïve youth who must learn quickly how to cope with every soldier's problems of courage, discipline and loyalty. But he barely learns the value of freedom before he finds he must fight for it bravely - in fantastic interplanetary battles against the most incredible adversaries of the future." Futuristic weaponry, interstellar travel, aliens, glitzy slam-bang technology, imagination and suspense - "Starship Troopers" has got it all!

But even a moment's analysis below that tantalizing, exciting surface story will reveal the much more profound, sterner stuff which will form the basis of numberless formal and informal philosophical debates for many, many years to come. The suggestion that the statement "Violence never settled anything" is utter nonsense; the surprising thesis that the term "juvenile delinquent" is an oxymoron; the proposition that man has no moral instinct, only a cultivated sense of moral duty that must be learned; the completely contrarian idea that franchise, the right to vote, is not a universal right but rather a responsibility which must be first earned and then exercised as a matter of duty; the suggestion that capital punishment is not only reasonable but should logically be carried out against a perpetrator judged "not guilty by reason of insanity"; the place of the fairer sex in the armed forces; the relationship between honor, experience, rights, duty and responsibility; the morality of imperialism and war; and much, much more - how is it possible that an author could cover so much ground in a mere 200 pages?

Only an author of the caliber of Robert A Heinlein could pull it off! Hand "Starship Troopers" to your 10 year old child who enjoys a rollicking space adventure and you'll turn him into a science fiction fan for life. Hand it to the dean of the philosophy department at your local university and you'll spark a series of fascinating, intellectual debates that could last until the turn of the century.

Highly recommended.

Paul Weiss

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amazingly contemporary

I expected a sentimental journey to my youth, but was amazed to see how many contemporary political and social issues I found here. Apparently, the novel caused a stir in the publishing circles of the day for its unorthodox (rational and conservative) discussions. It certainly would cause a mass rush for the Zolof in the industry today.

Heinlein loved to pose unorthodox questions in his fiction--"Stranger in a Strange Land" being the apotheosis of this. But it's obvious why the hippie culture ignored "Troopers" while making "Stranger" an icon.

It bogs down in the last quarter or so as Heinlein gets to lecturing more than storytelling--probably from the lack of a good editor--but overall a great relief from the run of today's mill. Now that I'm done with it, my kids are eating it up.

A great read.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Science FictionLarge Print EditionStarship Troopers is a classic novel by one of science fictions greatest writers of all time and is now a Tri-Star movie. In one of Heinleins most controversial bestsellers, a recruit of the future goes through the toughest boot camp in the universe and into battle with the Terran Mobile Infantry against mankinds most frightening enemy.

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