Synopsis

A future American religious dictorship. A guard of the Prophet’s palace gets involved in an underground resistance.

History

First publication: Astounding, serialized in two parts, February to March 1940

1941 RetroHugo winner for best novella.

Review

A masterpiece. The ending feels just a bit rushed, but it is just to wrap things up. The primary idea has already been well stated through the events of the story. It is well written with a tight plot, plenty of action and good characterization. Heinlein shows us how the U.S.A. could devolve into a theocratic dictatorship, an idea that is as frighteningly possible now as it seemed to him in 1940. Freedom and Democracy cannot continue under the control of a group that believes it is absolutely right and everyone else is wrong. When such a group gains control of the government and the military, all who disagree will be put down. Dissent can’t be toloerated by belief systems that think in absolutes. So freedom would be squashed by those who think they are doing what is right.