Farnham's Freehold

By Robert A. Heinlein

Book Overview

A science fiction classic, with an all-new celebrity introduction and afterword! A nuclear holocaust throws a brave and tough-minded family into a future where they are considered traitors and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671722069
• Release Date: February 1994
• Publisher: Baen
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.8" x 0.8" x 4.2"

Customer Reviews

Be prepared for a shock.

War is inevitable, so family and friends move into a fallout shelter for the duration. Due to some quirk, they come out at another time after the war has finished off civilization, as we knew it. Now prepare for a different civilization. This book is a classic example of Late Heinlein's works as opposed to his early works, i.e., "Past Through Tomorrow Future History Stories." However, as in any discipline, the early product is usually more structured and well inside the curve of accepted norms. You can only carry that so far. Then any artist who is to stand out must experiment and take chances beyond the norm. That is what made "Stranger in a Strange Land" (be sure to read the full-length version) so great. What do you do after that? Die? No, you either stagnate or further define your point. I cannot tell you what this book does. However, it is worth reading.

My first exposure to Libertarianism

It's been close to 30 years since I first read Farnham's Freehold, and I've read it once or twice since then. Don't get too wound up in "liking" Farnham; he's a bastard, you're not gonna like him. Heinlein just went through a libertarian period, and this is the result of that. The message isn't "only the strong survive, and screw everyone else", I got out of it "We make our own choices, and a responsible adult lives with the consequences of those choice and isn't a big crybaby when things go bad". Don't get me wrong, I'm not an insane libertarian (more of a Green Party/Ralph Nader sympathizer), just read it with an open mind, and not through the PC filter of today.

Controversial but entertaining exploration of ideas.

Clearly one of the most controversial novels by Robert A. Heinlein (author of Starship Troopers, Space Cadet, Stranger In A Strange Land, The Puppet Masters, etc.), pushing the envelope of political correctness a quarter of a century before that phrase was coined. A typical American family is plunged into the future in a nuclear attack - bomb shelter and all. Survivalism is just the beginning of this engrossing novel; the strange society they discover in the future challenges the reader's sense of decency and tolerance. A short version of this novel, as cut and revised by Frederik Pohl, appeared in Worlds of If Magazine, 1964. It's easy to see why Pohl censored it; this is the full text. But to call Heinlein racist absurdly ignores his whole body of work - some 30 other novels. This novel explores ideas - including cannibalism; but no one has called the author a cannibal.

Heinlein on race relations . . . or not

Is this science-fiction's most contraversial novel? I'm not sure if I could call it that, there's plenty here to raise eyebrows but I can probably think of three or four SF books that exacted the "contraversial" feeling from me more than this book. It's typical Heinlein and if you just left it at that, longtime Heinlein fans would probably know exactly what I was talking about. For those not so blessed, let me explain then. Heinlein generally takes an idea that's a little on the edgy side (here blacks taking over the world after the whites wipe themselves out) and runs with it, having his characters functioning as little more than mouthpieces arguing his points over and over. If you're into it, you'll forget the lack of extensive plotting and delve into the idea . . . if not then you've got a hard road in front of you. Farnham and his family take cover in a fallout shelter to avoid a nuclear war . . . the resulting war somehow propels them two thousand years into the future where the Chosen race (guess who?) has taken over and all light skinned folks are used as slaves (among other things, but you'll discover that when you read the book) . . . Farnham gets dropped into this and being the practical self made man that he is, adapts himself while thinking of ways to get out, while Joseph, a young black man who worked for him, sees little problem is taking advantage of the situation, while remaining essentially decent (sort of a "shoe is on the other foot thing" but Heinlein wisely stays away from too much of that line of thinking). They are about the most well rounded characters, though Farnham is a typical Heinlein protagonist, always thinking, uses his wits, an unshakeable core of his own morality, stuff like that. Joseph is much the same way. The women fall into two catagories, either simpering useless wimps (Grace) or mindnumbingly devoted sex kittens, smart and loyal. Right. Some of the stuff shown here will definitely make you wonder how much he believed in and how much was pure shock value (and it wouldn't be a Heinlein book without a discussion on sex, this time revolving around incest, but I'll let you discover that one for yourself) but overall it's a swift tale that contains a bunch of ideas that are worth thinking over, mostly how slavery is bad no matter who does it, among other things. Gear yourself up for it before you read it, because he's not going to make it easy, keep your head above water and you'll make it through, it is a strong novel and not one of his absolute best but maybe strong enough to make the second tier of greats.

Another RAH look at an unpleasant reality.

Reading other reviews of FF surprised me by showing RAH "fans" that didn't understand the concept of "lifeboat rules". In a lifeboat, there has to be one captain who imposes STRICT discipline for the group to maximize its chances for survival. There isn't time for democracy. AFTER the action slowed down, Hugh's "bullying" stopped. Hmmm. . . RAH looks at the REAL bottom line - survival. ALL political and economic ideologies, rights, etc. MUST take a back seat during times when the fertilizer hits the fan. I do not recall RAH saying Hugh bedding Barbara was for the good of the world. He DID say that, given the number of people involved, one more set of genetic material increased the group's chances of survival. IT DID! Even a cursory study of genetics will demonstrate this to be factual.