XPost: alt.books.cs-lewis, rec.arts.sf.written, mn.humor   
   XPost: rec.arts.books.childrens   
   From: mstemper@siemens-emis.com   
      
   In article <43c2fb43$0$76021$d368eab@news.calweb.com>, Mike Van Pelt writes:   
   >In article , Dan Drake   
    wrote:   
      
   >>Heinlein is said to have described _Stranger in a Strange Land_ as his   
   >>reponse to his own fascist utopia [his term, supposedly] in _Starship   
   >>Soldier_ or Trooper or whatever it was.   
   >   
   >Said by whom?   
   >   
   >Heinlein, in "Expanded Universe", responds to the conception   
   >that "Starship Troopers" was a fascist novel with withering   
   >contempt.  He said, IIRC, that people who claim that "Starship   
   >Troopers" is a fascist novel demonstrate that they are unable   
   >to read clear, declarative English sentences.   
      
   Althugh I agree that ST isn't a "fascist novel", the source you're quoting   
   is somewhat less than reliable. It's the afterword to "Who are the Heirs   
   of Patrick Henry?", right? In that (possibly within a paragraph or two),   
   he also says "In _Starship Troopers_, it is stated flatly and more than   
   once that nineteen out of twenty veterans are not military veterans."   
      
   Since *nobody* has ever been able to unearth even one of these statements,   
   this afterword doesn't reflect very well on RAH's ability "to read clear,   
   declarative English sentences."   
      
   --   
   Michael F. Stemper   
   #include    
   2 + 2 = 5, for sufficiently large values of 2   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)