The article in the New York Times reporting Nixon’s ban on soybean exports on June 28, 1973, was, as we used to say when we still read printed newspapers, “below the fold.” Above the fold, dramatic banner headlines blasted out the latest developments in the Watergate scandal and the Vietnam War.
I had no idea you were that Leonard's son. I remember reading his reviews and pieces in the NYT, and of course reading Heinlein myself. Your most recent piece on soy was extraordinarily good, a masterpiece. I mean it.
Is nice to have those kind of memories of your father. I'm a bit older than you and first read Time Enough in 1976. I was impressed with it at the time. It is the only scifi book which prompted me to cry. I recently reread it. It's funny how differently I responded to it today. Specifically, a large portion of the book consists of " The Tale of The Adoptive Daughter.". Reading of a young girl raised as an adopted daughter who throws herself at a much older man, my 21st Century mind thought about grooming. Also, it is an old man's fantasy. However, the episode when she died still made me cry.
Heinlein really hasn't aged well. He espoused patriotism, personal morality, competence, and responsibility. He was such a raging sexist that he put strong female characters front and center of his novels, including one who was the benign and wise ruler of Twenty Universes who chose her duty to her people even over the happiness of a man she loved. But he did seem entrenched in the view that men and women have very different attributes and roles in society, so.... He was authoritarian-- he'd probably object to allowing a mass of illegal aliens equal to the population of Sweden into the US in less than four years and want them deported. I doubt he'd be cool with the modern view of policing that sees violent criminals routinely and repeatedly released without bail, or the philosophy that people have an absolute right to live on the sidewalk and shoot up heroin and defecate in public. Of course, he did write a number of books where authoritarian governments were fiercely resisted and in many cases overthrown by freedom fighters-- but he wrote that one book where he suggested that citizens should be personally invested in their society in order to vote, so he was probably on the fascist spectrum. No, Heinlein didn't "age well"-- but that is much more a condemnation of modern society than it is of Heinlein's values.
I had no idea you were that Leonard's son. I remember reading his reviews and pieces in the NYT, and of course reading Heinlein myself. Your most recent piece on soy was extraordinarily good, a masterpiece. I mean it.
Much appreciated!
Wow, that is a crazy time loop
Is nice to have those kind of memories of your father. I'm a bit older than you and first read Time Enough in 1976. I was impressed with it at the time. It is the only scifi book which prompted me to cry. I recently reread it. It's funny how differently I responded to it today. Specifically, a large portion of the book consists of " The Tale of The Adoptive Daughter.". Reading of a young girl raised as an adopted daughter who throws herself at a much older man, my 21st Century mind thought about grooming. Also, it is an old man's fantasy. However, the episode when she died still made me cry.
Yeah, there's a lot of stuff involving Heinlein's depictions of women that does not wear well.
This is lovely, Andrew.
Thank you!
Heinlein really hasn't aged well. He espoused patriotism, personal morality, competence, and responsibility. He was such a raging sexist that he put strong female characters front and center of his novels, including one who was the benign and wise ruler of Twenty Universes who chose her duty to her people even over the happiness of a man she loved. But he did seem entrenched in the view that men and women have very different attributes and roles in society, so.... He was authoritarian-- he'd probably object to allowing a mass of illegal aliens equal to the population of Sweden into the US in less than four years and want them deported. I doubt he'd be cool with the modern view of policing that sees violent criminals routinely and repeatedly released without bail, or the philosophy that people have an absolute right to live on the sidewalk and shoot up heroin and defecate in public. Of course, he did write a number of books where authoritarian governments were fiercely resisted and in many cases overthrown by freedom fighters-- but he wrote that one book where he suggested that citizens should be personally invested in their society in order to vote, so he was probably on the fascist spectrum. No, Heinlein didn't "age well"-- but that is much more a condemnation of modern society than it is of Heinlein's values.