Just looking at some of the other reviews on this one before writing mine forces me to say.... A science fiction book should not get get five stars simply because it was written by Heinlein. I think this was a bad place for me to start on Heinlein's future history work. I hadn't done my homework on Heinlein that much, so I didn't realize it was the third in a series of collected works. So, this review is from the perspective of someone zero background on the first two books in the collection/series... anyone reading it should take that for what it's worth. If This Goes On... (1 star)Regarding the story's plot, I have absolutely no concept of how we could possibly get to the Religious Theocracy point in America. Even knowing what life was like in 1955 when this was written, I think I would still have to call bullshit. But... suspending disbelief I continued. And... Bleh. Puritanical, dogmatic character John Lyle is the Pious Pilgrim's Pilgrim, but then he give it all up for a good looking chick. Pfft! Trope! Next. He immediately understands that he had been brainwashed all his life and converts to the rebel heretics, but he can't seem to get the goody-goody out of his system until his buddy convinces him that God is a 'private thing'....oh, yeah, and he sees a naked chick... spare me the anti-religious rhetoric, Bob. Top all that off with the Psychobabble, mind control, hypnosis, psychic nonsense (how's that different from superstitious religion, Bob?), and you have a very mushy story. Wow, I was going to give 3 stars for creativity until I talked myself down to 1 here. Hmmm, I didn't realize how much I didn't like this one until I wrote it all out. Ahhh, writing is catharsis! Coventry (3 stars)A short story about a non-conformist who is removed from society because broke the Covenant - do what you want as long as it brings no harm to others - and refuses to be 'mentally reconditioned'. He is sent to a reservation for such as himself called Coventry that is kept separated by a force field. What he expects to find there, and reality are far far different.I enjoyed this one. It had a better pace, and the concepts were more interesting to me. 3 stars. Misfit - 4 stars.Short story with a lot of scientific detail in it. A group of young men who just don't fit into society are given an opportunity to better themselves by helping mankind make a space station out of an asteroid. In the process, one young man with a rare gift is discovered, and gets his opportunity to save the project; thus proving that one groups misfit is another groups superstar. 4 stars.
This book is a novella and a couple of short stories. All the stories take place in Heinlein's alternate timeline that many of his books, most notably the Lazarus Long books are set. So, at the time of the novella which is most of this book, the US is governed by a Christian theocracy headed by a "Prophet". They've been indoctrinated in this for several generations so a large portion of the country actually believes this to be true. The novella is about the disillusionment of a member of his guard and his part in the revolution to overthrow the Prophet. The subsequent short story is set quite a bit later and examines how the society changed after the revolution. The final short story is about Andrew Jackson Libby who is mentioned in many of the Lazarus Long books.I think because of the nature of the story of the novella, Heinlein actually manages to salvage a decent ending. The novella starts off very slow and because of this, I've had several aborted attempts to read the paperback copy I have. I finally managed to get past the slow part because I was listening while travelling. That said, because the society is so different than our own, that part really helps establish the world and the main characters quite well. In the end, I really liked the novella, although it does suffer from Heinlein's traditional problems with poor female characters. Even when one of the female characters is shown to be strong and capable, she worries about what will happen after the revolution.The first short story isn't particularly strong, but it does pick up and have an excellent ending (really? Yes, it does). The story about Andrew Libby portrays a very early Libby who is mathematically gifted, but hasn't really been taught any mathematics. It's an interesting glimpse into a character who appears (or is mentioned) in many of the Heinlein's other books.Overall, this period of time is referenced in several of Heinlein's books so fans of Lazarus Long should really read this at some point since it fills in details that are only mentioned in passing in other books.Fans of science fiction in general might want to look at some of Heinlein's better works instead, but on the whole, it's worth reading.
Do You like book Revolt In 2100 (1986)?
Forget the misleading jacket blurb – this book has nothing to do with Stranger In A Strange Land. But it does comprise a short Heinlein novel (“If This Goes On–”) about a rebellion against the US Govt after a hundred years of Christian theocracy, and two short stories that take place afterwards. The novel – written in 1940 – is a decent adventure story with a reasonably convincing idea of what would be involved in overthrowing a theocratic dictatorship, although narrator John Lyle can get a little annoying with his gee-whiz naivete, and the ending is somewhat abrupt. Even if that doesn’t work for you, the short story “Coventry” is worth the price of admission alone. It’s a great send-up of people who idealize rugged individualism to the point of opting out of society without fully understanding the sacrifices and skills required to actually do that. The final story, “Misfit”, is a tale of space marines turning an asteroid into a fueling outpost, with the help of math whiz AJ Libby. All up, it’s a slightly dated but good collection of classic SF.
—John Defrog
I first read this book in the mid 1980's and have thought of it often as the Republican party became so deeply infused with christian fundamentalist rhetoric and ideology. Reading it now, I wish that Heinlein would have written this material later in his career as it doesn't feel on par with his best work. The themes and characterizations are still just as relevant and important today, if not more so but here they feel weakly or inconsistently executed.Even with its flaws, this collection could do well to serve as a cautionary tale and given the current penchant for dystopian fiction perhaps a new writer will revisit these ideas and give them the proper exploration they deserve.
—Quartknee
This book contains a novella and two short stories. The novella is about a revolution to overthrow a theocracy. It explores the practicalities of revolution and population control. I liked this story but I loved the first short story, "Coventry." "Coventry" is about the society that replaces the theocracy. It is a utopia that highly values choice. Psychology has advanced to the point where it can be determined who the troublemakers are and they could be conditioned to better fit in but society will only do this to individuals who want it. Otherwise those who practice violence have society withdrawn from them and they are released into a territory called Coventry. The protagonist expects to find anarchy in Coventry but instead Coventry is controlled by oppressive and corrupt governments because power vacuums don't last long. The last story is very familiar to anyone who has read many of Heinlein's stories. It is interesting enough but doesn't really cover anything that isn't covered at greater length elsewhere.
—Aaron
