Glory Road by Robert A Heinlein

Last week I read the book Glory Road by Robert Heinlein.    This book was published after Robert Heinlein published his most famous science-fiction book and arguably one of the most famous science-fiction books ever, Stranger in a Strange Land.

He wrote this book following the success of Stranger and this book received very poor reviews.  Many people call this book a fantasy book, and it does have hands of fantasy and it.  However this is more truly science-fiction book.  The heads of fantasy that pop up with in the book are explaining through science-fiction concepts such as alternate universes, in the space-time continue on, folding space and a number of other scenarios many of which were initially fielded by RAH.

This book is set in the 60s and features a main character that has recently left a war in Southeast Asia.  This book was published in 1963 and so the war in Southeast Asia is likely to reference Vietnam which was just starting up at the time, but it could be a distant reference to the Korean War.  This book talks about the futility of this particular war even though RAH is a very vocal writer that supports topics such as patriotism and fighting for what you believe in, or fighting for your country.

He often times however writes about the paradox of the situations.  Talking about the pros of patriotism as much as pointing out the fallacies of many people that support extra patriotic views.  I say this for the perspective of a person that served in the Army.  My own patriotism definitely emanates from the views expressed in the books by RAH.  There is a definite hypocrisy in war and patriotism and the results that come from these aspects of humanity.

My own perspective today is one where I feel it’s important for people to serve in the military of the country that they live in, but I feel that the draft is completely wrong.  I do not believe that people can be compelled to serve nor should they be, but I do feel that they should be inspired to serve.  I do feel that military service is one of the few ways for a person to truly comprehend the power of their government and by extension how that power should be wielded by the people elected to run the government.

Anyway this book kicks off of the person it’s just getting out of the military and looking for a way to go to school.  He ultimately travels the world and meet up with an exotic woman who hires him for a mission that he can’t quite refuse.  He definitely finds himself involved in something extra normal in typical of main characters by Robert Heinlein, he takes the circumstances in stride and rises to the challenge.

RAH is sometimes criticized for a high school sense of sexuality president and his books.  He often times broaches sexual topics in his work.  This particular book approach to sexuality in typical RAH fashion.  Possibly as interesting as the book itself, the epilogue is written by a different writer that chimes in on the topic of why RAH books were written in a way that sometimes has a high school level of sexuality references.  RAH wrote many of his books at a time when publishers were under the control of Censors.

He had to curb the language he used and the depth at which he would cover a topic related to sexuality in order to get the book published in through the Censors control.  This results in language that is unique to RAH, and also at times seems a little adolescent in tone.  As an adult when I read these books today, I often times noticed this town but tend to overlook it as I focus on the groundbreaking science-fiction views and concepts that were explored by RAH long before many other science-fiction writers ever got around to these topics.

He covers everything from alternate universes, Time travel, alternate forms of energy, robotics, space travel, and even colors it with descriptions of the tools, weapons, houses and settings and furniture of the day.  You’re just as likely to find an apt description of the utility of a couch from Century furniture  in a spaceship as you are to receive a quick lesson in the physics of launching a rocket.

Politics, religion, unions, military affairs, and much more are all common themes in these books and are interwoven in a way that shows how these will be impacted by the technologies of the future.  It’s this holistic approach to science fiction that puts RAH in a league of his own.