Customer Reviews

GIVE ME LIBERTY

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The stories in this book often have a very bitter tone... one lashes out with contempt for "Russia" (a quaint attitude nowadays), another sets up a strawman republic to poke holes in it, etc. And not a few of their so-called anarchist utopias have chilling elements--for example, murder being punished only if the victim was a "paying client of a justice service."

But that's not to say there aren't good ideas to ponder and explore here--and not every story is so overloaded with political outrage that the tale itself suffers. Van Vogt's "The Weapons Shop" is probably the purest exploration of an "armed-society is a free society" mentality as thought experiment, and the author pays close attention to realistic complications and consequences of his ideas. I wish I could say the same for Vinge's "The Ungoverned," a lengthy and tedious diatribe on the unassailable perfection of pure anarchy--preferably through unrestrained corporate power and lots and lots of weapons.

By contrast, Biggle's "Monument" (the first story) is a refreshingly fun and clever poke at bureaucracy and ways to circumvent it. And MacLean's "Second Game" is a political-intrigue battle of ideas worthy of Asimov. But Murray Leinster's "Historical Note," a 1951 hard sci-fi short about the fall of communism, just comes across as outdated and a little sad with its boatloads of vitriol and hyper-simplified perspectives.

Like most anthologies, this book is a mixed bag. If you're a hardcore fan of libertarianism, or of political theories explored through the medium of fiction, this book will appeal to you (as an interestig series of ideas, if nothing more). And if you're a raving corporate-anarchy loony who genuflects to a portrait of Ayn Rand every day and wants more catchphrases to spout about the Evils of Government, you'll love it. But if you like your sci-fi focused squarely on technology, adventure, or even pure ideas, you'll find the political stuff very heavy and tiresome to wade through. Approach with caution.

This is an amazing anothogy of truly thought provoking stories written by top-notch sci-fi authors. Each story deals in it's own way with anarchy or alternate forms of government. With the exception of "The Ungoverned", by Vernor Vinge, all of these were new to me, and every single one should be cataloged as a classic. If you are a connoisseur of this genre, then it's a must for your collection.