- Paperback: 308 pages
- Publisher: Polaris Books (Jan 15 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0974144304
- ISBN-13: 978-0974144306
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.4 x 2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 476 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,442,635 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-A satiric tour de force. After the Minervan people are nearly wiped out in a distant war, the Western Galactic Empire generously grants them sanctuary in the Minervans' ancient homeland-Kennewick, WA. Unfortunately, the United States, a "Christian" theocracy, does not welcome the "pagans." Government authorities round up the former American inhabitants of Kennewick, isolate them in refugee camps, and teach their children to be martyrs in a propaganda war, assassinating Minervans and carrying the terror to distant planets. The advanced galactic civilizations are not without faults of their own, including an inability to respect Earthlings as equals. When a Minervan captures an American soldier for scientific observation, she is surprised to discover promising "protohuman" traits, while he learns that the Minervans are not quite the monsters he had believed them to be. And this is just the beginning as Zubrin holds up a mirror to the perpetual Middle East crisis, the current "War on Terror," and many aspects of humanity and modern life. In less-inspired hands, such an extended satiric treatment might pall, but the author fleshes out this novel of ideas with intriguing characters, delightful twists, skillful plotting, and, above all, humor-all kinds, and lots of it. The satire bites as satire should, but the story also satisfies. This is an engaging romantic fable of interspecies misunderstanding and discovery, and a grand adventure that takes readers all the way to the galaxy's highest court and back home again to a planet much in need of a fresh perspective.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Something like the subtlety of the Great Wall of China informs this satire on fundamentalism, the premise of which is that the alien Minervans, whose ancestral home is called Kennewick, have been relocated in the U.S. by the Western Galactic Empire, and the U.S. government is less than tolerant of these "pagans," who worship Minerva rather than the rest of the empire's triumvirate of goddesses. Ex-soldier Hamilton is a study specimen for Minervan scientist Aurora, who believes that earthlings might be protohuman. The U.S. government, with an eye to the highest profit, creates a huge refugee issue and recruits children as suicide bombers to create galactic sympathy for removing the Minervans. U.S. fanaticism doesn't make any friends, however, and when the U.S. blows up entire planets, the empire sends a fleet to deal with the Earth problem. The outcome could be disastrous, given superior empire firepower, but, fortunately, some earthlings (protohumans?) haven't fallen for the fundamentalist propaganda. Unfortunately, the yarn's satiric potential isn't always realized. Regina Schroeder
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant!,
By
This review is from: The Holy Land (Paperback)
Where else can you get witty satire, political attacks, brilliant symbolism, and futuristic aliens all in one place? Reading this book, you will laugh, you will cry, you will want to read it again. Well, maybe not cry, but definitely say "Ouch," as Zubrin points out a not-so-flattering view of our own society. Regardless of your political standpoint, however, you are likely to be both insulted and laugh your behind off, as Zubrin makes fun of everyone. The book is also chock full of symbolism beyond the obvious, things that do not seem amusing to the characters, but are brilliantly amusing to the reader -- "Inside jokes" of our own society. The most brilliant thing of all is that he exaggerates moderately little, but enables us to laugh at the ridiculousness of our own society as it is. The cover says it best -- "A world crazy enough to be our own." Cleverly conceived and sharply hilarious, The Holy Land has a little something for everyone who enjoys a good satire.
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fun look at terrorism,
By Peter and Helen . Evans (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Holy Land (Paperback)
A willing suspension of disbelief, the pre-requisite for reading fiction, quickly gives way to amazement and delight as Robert Zubrin leads us through a really fun look at terrorism in the parallel universe of "The Holy Land." Rallying behind the high-flown credo "For Reason, Love and Justice - Everywhere and Forever" the Western Galactic Empire is forced to literally come "down to earth" to deal with the pesky Earthlings who threaten their vital energy supplies. The flash-point for conflict is a colony of stubbornly monotheistic Minervans, rescued from extermination and resettled by the WGE in their ancient homeland, which just happens to be in the territory of a reluctant, but opportunistic, host... the United States of America!This is no-holds-barred satire, wherein no sacred cow escapes un-gored, trillions are slaughtered for no good reason and an earthling meets a priestess... and takes her home to meet his folks. Amid theological disputes fueled by pride and greed and fought with sci-fi weaponry, we catch a tragi-comic glimpse of ourselves in all our naked (and smelly) humanity. A real treat!
4.0 out of 5 stars
Orwell for the Middle East,
By
This review is from: The Holy Land (Paperback)
What George Orwell did for (or to?) the Russian Revolution in Animal Farm Robert Zubrin does to the Palestinian/Israeli conflict in this very clever satire. When the Western Galactic Empire relocates the unpopular race of Minervans to their original homeland in Kennewick, WA, the Americans take it poorly. The corrupt Christian fundamentalist administration in Washington, DC first tries to expel them using force, but when that fails they decide to make a play for galactic sympathy, so people are herded into "refugee" camps around the new Minervan land, to live in ostentatious misery. From these camps they launch suicidal terrorist assaults on the Minervans. Later, when the vital energy source helicity is discovered in America, the administration uses its wealth to set up training camps in far flung locales in order to have plausible deniability when it launches a spectacular 9-11-style attack on the Western Galactic Empire itself.All of the elements of the conflict in our own Holy Lands are present here and there's great pleasure to be had in seeing how Mr. Zubrin draws the parallels. Likewise, the absurdity of these tactics is even clearer in a fictional setting than it is in real life. The Americans have no chance against the Minervans, who are decent folk and just want to live peacefully in the land that is rightfully theirs. The American political leaders cynically manipulate their own people and the galactic press and they engage in truly criminal behavior. But, something seemingly unintended does happen--even with the deck so stacked--this reader, at least, found his sympathies ultimately did lie with the Americans as against the Minervans. Sure, one would wish the leadership less corrupt and their means less vile, but tribalism/nativism is a powerful force and, in the end, it seems only natural to prefer Christian Americans who are rather similar to us, even if flawed, to the quite different Minervans. And, realistically, imagine that the Native Americans, who have a not un-Minervan claim to American soil, set up a state for themselves--how do you think we'd all react, no matter the abstract justice of their case? As I say, I'd assume this reaction is not what Mr. Zubrin intended, but in a way it makes the book even more powerful. Once you recognize that you can abhor your own leaders methods but still find their cause somewhat compelling, you gain a genuine insight into the insanity that has infected the Palestinians. This insight can in no way justify terrorism but does suggest why more moderate and ordinary people are reluctant to disavow the extremists in their midst.
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