Tunnel in the Sky
4 February 2021 20:22![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
m_d_hOccasionally I've been rereading Heinlein's ancient novels, they're quick reads and fun and somehow get me cryin' like the old softie I am. This time it was Tunnel in the Sky (1955), I started reading it yesterday after I quit work. Despite going to bed early yesterday, and cooking dinner tonight, I'm already finished. Heinlein's works are no Mars Trilogy, I don't feel my brain overflowing after a few pages, nope, I can slam through these books in mere hours.
Although by today's standards we'd consider this book to be racist and sexist, by the standards of 1955 it was quite progressive, and the main character was a black adolescent who ended up in charge of a small settlement of humans on a far away world. Heinlein always attacked the issues of prejudice head on, from the context of his place and time, writing about the evils of slavery, also writing about strong & intelligent women who had no need for men to rescue them. But Heinlein didn't wipe out gender, his women loved men, loved having sex with men, and loved having babies. In his later novels, most of his characters would be described today as bisexual, but that still didn't mean gender dissolved in his writing -- his women were strong, intelligent, independent, but still essentially feminine in certain ways.
Heinlein's politics would be difficult to categorize today. Some might think he was a libertarian, and he was definitely skeptical of government. But he would never have signed the Libertarian Pledge. Mainly because he was a veteran who was strongly pro-military. He frequently portrayed disabled veterans in a positive light, and designed his future societies as warlike as any in history. But Heinlein was also a democrat and believed in civil liberties. The trick to understanding Heinlein's politics is that he believed a strong democracy required a powerful and revered military class to protect it from the rest of humanity, even to protect it from itself.
Might may not make right, but without might you're doomed, in Heinlein's universes. He'd never sign on to gun control measures. But he strongly favored education of the young, and charity toward the poor, and giving people second chances. He had a strong work ethic, but also believed in the importance of play and creativity.
In a lot of ways, Heinlein's characters were role models for me growing up. It's a pleasure to go back and read his novels all these years later.
Although by today's standards we'd consider this book to be racist and sexist, by the standards of 1955 it was quite progressive, and the main character was a black adolescent who ended up in charge of a small settlement of humans on a far away world. Heinlein always attacked the issues of prejudice head on, from the context of his place and time, writing about the evils of slavery, also writing about strong & intelligent women who had no need for men to rescue them. But Heinlein didn't wipe out gender, his women loved men, loved having sex with men, and loved having babies. In his later novels, most of his characters would be described today as bisexual, but that still didn't mean gender dissolved in his writing -- his women were strong, intelligent, independent, but still essentially feminine in certain ways.
Heinlein's politics would be difficult to categorize today. Some might think he was a libertarian, and he was definitely skeptical of government. But he would never have signed the Libertarian Pledge. Mainly because he was a veteran who was strongly pro-military. He frequently portrayed disabled veterans in a positive light, and designed his future societies as warlike as any in history. But Heinlein was also a democrat and believed in civil liberties. The trick to understanding Heinlein's politics is that he believed a strong democracy required a powerful and revered military class to protect it from the rest of humanity, even to protect it from itself.
Might may not make right, but without might you're doomed, in Heinlein's universes. He'd never sign on to gun control measures. But he strongly favored education of the young, and charity toward the poor, and giving people second chances. He had a strong work ethic, but also believed in the importance of play and creativity.
In a lot of ways, Heinlein's characters were role models for me growing up. It's a pleasure to go back and read his novels all these years later.