It really wasn’t. Heinlein did not write Starship Troopers as an aspirational piece of milscifi and, while he definitely had some questionable politics, my understanding is that he was effectively thinking aloud as he wrote the book.
It’s hard to tell where his beliefs end and pondering began honestly. I’ve read a few of his works and it is strongly bent toward the every man trope if I remember right. Of how an individual needs to be skilled in most areas, self actualizing, independent. Reads like a conservative libertarian view to me honestly. Add in Starship Troopers itself really plays that strong and talks about military might makes right, it’s hard not to see it as positive toward warfare.
i mean when you read that heinlein time travel book where every character is the same person just at a different point in their personal timeline including the mother, the father, the son, the army dude… heinlein self sufficiency gets wweird
It is a bit complicated. RH would have been a ww2 vet and I am not sure i would say is pro nazi, but he is rather right leaning and glorifying of war in his ways (he did miss out on combat and it seems to be resentful in a way).
Heinlein was a Cold Warrior who hated commies. I think that is the most important lens you need to see his work through.
He got injured before he saw combat and had a Long convalescent period, so there definitely is a bit of a chip on his shoulder with respect to honor cultures and willingness to fight.
I think he was also gender queer in some deep way. You don’t accidentally write a novel about an older writer who, through an absurd sequence of events, gets his brain transplanted into the body of an extremely attractive younger woman. There is a lot of criticism about his recurrent “Heinlein heroine”, and I think she might actually be a self insert.
He got injured before he saw combat and had a Long convalescent period, so there definitely is a bit of a chip on his shoulder with respect to honor cultures and willingness to fight.
my step grandfather was stationed in military intelligence rather than fighting on the front lines in the war. he felt like it separated him from the folk at the vfw and that self-imposed separation was the root of his ptsd. mom and dad had us read heinlein, i realized a lot later as a way to try to understand him and his brokenness.
I have, though it leads me more toward thinking of him as libertarian more than conservative. As well his dislike of organized religion. Reading other books lends more toward the conservative side of things. His history in politics and movements as well lends more credence he is conservative. Now we’re talking more of neo-liberal than fascist.
Starship Troopers was a warning.
The movie was. The book was sympathetic.
It really wasn’t. Heinlein did not write Starship Troopers as an aspirational piece of milscifi and, while he definitely had some questionable politics, my understanding is that he was effectively thinking aloud as he wrote the book.
It’s hard to tell where his beliefs end and pondering began honestly. I’ve read a few of his works and it is strongly bent toward the every man trope if I remember right. Of how an individual needs to be skilled in most areas, self actualizing, independent. Reads like a conservative libertarian view to me honestly. Add in Starship Troopers itself really plays that strong and talks about military might makes right, it’s hard not to see it as positive toward warfare.
i mean when you read that heinlein time travel book where every character is the same person just at a different point in their personal timeline including the mother, the father, the son, the army dude… heinlein self sufficiency gets wweird
I recently binged a lot of Heinlein, and it turned me off him a bit. The novel Friday seemed to be the tipping point.
Very aggressive, self-assured attitude shone through.
I also binged a shotlosd of PK Dick fiction, and mostly just got super sad again.
Read a lot of Heinlein, but not that one. Are you sure it wasn’t satire?
It is a bit complicated. RH would have been a ww2 vet and I am not sure i would say is pro nazi, but he is rather right leaning and glorifying of war in his ways (he did miss out on combat and it seems to be resentful in a way).
The book is not satirical.
Heinlein was a Cold Warrior who hated commies. I think that is the most important lens you need to see his work through.
He got injured before he saw combat and had a Long convalescent period, so there definitely is a bit of a chip on his shoulder with respect to honor cultures and willingness to fight.
I think he was also gender queer in some deep way. You don’t accidentally write a novel about an older writer who, through an absurd sequence of events, gets his brain transplanted into the body of an extremely attractive younger woman. There is a lot of criticism about his recurrent “Heinlein heroine”, and I think she might actually be a self insert.
This is all true. I mostly wanted to point out that the book does not have the whimsical tone that the movie does.
my step grandfather was stationed in military intelligence rather than fighting on the front lines in the war. he felt like it separated him from the folk at the vfw and that self-imposed separation was the root of his ptsd. mom and dad had us read heinlein, i realized a lot later as a way to try to understand him and his brokenness.
My read from the books I’ve read, he’s a conservative libertarian, he didn’t seem to like organized religion but believe in religion and spirituality.
Have you read Stranger in a Strange Land? That reads like he’s a hippy, not a conservative.
I have, though it leads me more toward thinking of him as libertarian more than conservative. As well his dislike of organized religion. Reading other books lends more toward the conservative side of things. His history in politics and movements as well lends more credence he is conservative. Now we’re talking more of neo-liberal than fascist.
On that i’d agree. Maybe he was liberal early in life and drifted rightwards. Stranger was one of his earlier novels.