Table of Contents
Troopers finds SFs first grand master in excellent command of the language, mixing technical terms, modern slang, and plain old words in the unstylish style that is his hallmark. It is a cross between eloquent and workmanlike, and it does not just get the job done, it propels the story. Heinlein brings worlds alive with his prose, whether they are boot camps or bug holes.
Science Fiction Weekly
The single most influential book that I have ever read. A lot of the ideas and values that Heinlein offers in Starship Troopers have had a profound effect on me and the way that I have molded my life... [It] is a story about social ills we are faced with today. Unlike many authors, Heinlein offers ideas and options as to possible reforms.
SF Site
What makes Starship Troopers such an important book is in its pioneering approach to dramatizing military themes in an SF context. Unless I miss my guess, Troopers was the first SF novel in which military life was depicted in a manner believable to readers who had actually served.
As a fast-paced piece of action storytelling, Starship Troopers mostly races along... The humanity Heinlein bestowed upon characters, the gritty realism of their conflicts, in what had largely been Flash Gordon territory up to that point, was a significant step in science fiction maturation.
Love em or hate em, the novels controversial politics [are] another feather in its cap. A novel in a genre [once] dedicated to escapist juvenilia challenges adult readers to question their assumptions and consider such ideas as duty, altruism, and patriotism under the harsh light of scrutiny... [Troopers ] is doing you an intellectual favor.
SF Reviews.net
A serious moral tract about the obligations of citizenship and the nobility of the individual willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good... Troopers has to be seen as partly a celebration of victory in World War II with its unsung citizen-heroes, partly a reflection of the Cold War and its attendant anxiety, and partly a reaction to growing popular discontent which originated with the inconclusive Korean War and culminated in the anti-war movement of the 1960s.
SF Crowsnest
[An] incredible classic of science fiction... Heinlein grabs the attention of the reader from the very beginning... with I always get the shakes before a drop. That simple line illustrates the beauty of this work; its not just about action, though there is certainly plenty of that. Instead its about what goes through the mind of a trooper.
Heinlein not only combines futuristic action with psychological insight here, but also manages to throw in some social commentary as well. Whether or not the reader would agree with Heinleins ideas, the concepts are still intriguing... It brilliantly blends action and intellect to provide an entertaining, thought-provoking experience for readers of all ages. Its one of my personal favorite books, and I highly recommend it to everyone. [It] gets better every time one reads it, for one is always discovering some new idea hidden within the pages. I have never even remotely tired of reading it, and Im sure I never will.
The 11th Hour
Books by Robert A. Heinlein
ASSIGNMENT IN ETERNITY
THE BEST OF ROBERT HEINLEIN
BETWEEN PLANETS
THE CAT WHO WALKS THROUGH WALLS
CITIZEN OF THE GALAXY
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW
DESTINATION MOON
THE DOOR INTO SUMMER
DOUBLE STAR
EXPANDED UNIVERSE: MORE WORLDS OF ROBERT A. HEINLEIN
FARMER IN THE SKY
FARNHAM S FREEHOLD
FRIDAY
GLORY ROAD
THE GREEN HILLS OF EARTH
HAVE SPACE SUITWILL TRAVEL
I WILL FEAR NO EVIL
JOB: A COMEDY OF JUSTICE
THE MAN WHO SOLD THE MOON
THE MENACE FROM EARTH
METHUSELAH S CHILDREN
THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS
THE NOTEBOOKS OF LAZARUS LONG
THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST
ORPHANS OF THE SKY
THE PAST THROUGH TOMORROW: FUTURE HISTORY STORIES
PODKAYNE OF MARS
THE PUPPET MASTERS
RED PLANET
REVOLT IN 2100
ROCKET SHIP GALILEO
THE ROLLING STONES
SIXTH COLUMN
SPACE CADET
THE STAR BEAST
STARMAN JONES
STARSHIP TROOPERS
STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND
THREE BY HEINLEIN
TIME ENOUGH FOR LOVE
TIME FOR THE STARS
TOMORROW THE STARS (Ed .)
TO SAIL BEYOND THE SUNSET
TRAMP ROYALE
TUNNEL IN THE SKY
THE UNPLEASANT PROFESSION OF JONATHAN HOAG
WALDO & MAGIC, INC.
THE WORLDS OF ROBERT A. HEINLEIN
Acknowledgments
The stanza from The Eathen by Rudyard Kipling, at the head of Chapter VII, is used by permission of Mr. Kiplings estate. Quotations from the lyrics of the ballad Rodger Young are used by permission of the author, Frank Loesser.
TO SARGE ARTHUR GEORGE SMITHSOLDIER, CITIZEN, SCIENTISTAND TO ALL SERGEANTS ANYWHEN WHO HAVE LABORED TO MAKE MEN OUT OF BOYS.
R.A.H.
CH:01
Come on, you apes! You wanta live forever?
Unknown platoon sergeant, 1918
I always get the shakes before a drop. Ive had the injections, of course, and hypnotic preparation, and it stands to reason that I cant really be afraid. The ships psychiatrist has checked my brain waves and asked me silly questions while I was asleep and he tells me that it isnt fear, it isnt anything importantits just like the trembling of an eager race horse in the starting gate.
I couldnt say about that; Ive never been a race horse. But the fact is: Im scared silly, every time.
At D-minus-thirty, after we had mustered in the drop room of the Rodger Young, our platoon leader inspected us. He wasnt our regular platoon leader, because Lieutenant Rasczak had bought it on our last drop; he was really the platoon sergeant, Career Ships Sergeant Jelal. Jelly was a Finno-Turk from Iskander around Proximaa swarthy little man who looked like a clerk, but Ive seen him tackle two berserk privates so big he had to reach up to grab them, crack their heads together like coconuts, step back out of the way while they fell.
Off duty he wasnt badfor a sergeant. You could even call him Jelly to his face. Not recruits, of course, but anybody who had made at least one combat drop.
But right now he was on duty. We had all each inspected our combat equipment (look, its your own necksee?), the acting platoon sergeant had gone over us carefully after he mustered us, and now Jelly went over us again, his face mean, his eyes missing nothing. He stopped by the man in front of me, pressed the button on his belt that gave readings on his physicals. Fall out!
But, Sarge, its just a cold. The Surgeon said
Jelly interrupted. But Sarge! he snapped. The Surgeon aint making no dropand neither are you, with a degree and a half of fever. You think I got time to chat with you, just before a drop? Fall out!
Jenkins left us, looking sad and madand I felt bad, too. Because of the Lieutenant buying it, last drop, and people moving up, I was assistant section leader, second section, this drop, and now I was going to have a hole in my section and no way to fill it. Thats not good; it means a man can run into something sticky, call for help and have nobody to help him.
