Starship Troopers Book

A great work of science fiction.

This is not at all about action, and fighting bugs, it is a study of a man's compulsion to fight and or serve his country, and a discussion about our society's, and any society's responsibility to its citizens and what is best for society. Like many Heinlein novels, it works well on many levels, the surface science fiction, and then the deeper, more complicated voice of the storyteller, speaking from his own experience.

This is a controversial book. Criticized for espousing a militaristic, maybe fascist ideal, Heinlein was also criticized from the other side for his own lack of combat experience. This book inspires strong emotions.

At the end of the day, it was a fine book, another excellent, genre transcending work from Heinlein.

*** 2020 reread - Starship Troopers came out in 1959, a departure from his juveniles published by Scribners'. This is more mature and his ideological and social commentary is more advanced.

A modern reader will find some somewhat dated action sequences as our heroes fight first alien "skinnies" and then the main antagonist bugs. The most important thing going on between the covers, though, is Heinlein's description of a society that rose from the ashes of the "noble experiment" of democracy.

In Heinlein's world building, western civilization had collapsed sometime in the late twentieth century after a fight between the Soviet state, the United States and China. What survived was a culture raised up by the veterans of those wars and built on the foundations of military thought and organization. Only a veteran can be a full citizen who can vote and have other rights. There appears to be limits on free speech and due process, and a relaxation of the eighth amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Residents are not required to serve, and in ironic twists are even discouraged from enlisting, but they can never be a true citizen of the state without veteran status.

Marvel introduced Iron Man in the 1963 edition of Tales of Suspense. The armored suits the mobile infantry wear to battle may have been an inspiration for Stan Lee and associates when they envisioned the Iron Man suit.

Good fun and also thought provoking.