Synopsis

After an atomic war, Drummond comes back to the US after two years of touring Europe to see what the total damage is. The US is rebuilding already.
“‘...our problem is to learn to live with the mutants, to ac­cept anyone as—Earthling—no mat­ter how he looks, to quit thinking anything was ever settled by violence or connivance, to build a cul­ture of individual sanity. Funny,’ mused Drummond, ‘how the im­practical virtues, tolerance and sym­pathy and generosity, have become the fundamental necessities of sim­ple survival.’”

History

First publication: Astounding, March 1947

Written by Poul Anderson and F. N. Waldrop.

Review

This kind of goes with “That Only a Mother” by Merril, also published in Astounding the next year, in the theme of atomic mutations. Anderson’s story is intelligent and thinks through the problem very well for the time. But the story feels like a rough draft. The story seems to need sections expanded and more of the point shown by examples. I think the collapsed nature of American society could have been built in a lot more detail. This is the first of a three story series, but I still feel there should have been more. The stage seems set for some major conflicts in the future. Maybe the other two stories take us there. Good, but only recommended to the Anderson completist.