Customer Reviews

AMERICA 2040, #1 (America Two Thousand Forty)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

>This is a kind of neoconservative pulp novel, overbearing and
>sodden.

This series may be pulp, overbearing, sodden or whatever, but I would not characterize them as "neoconservative", unless you think anything bearing American patriotism is neoconservative. Truthfully, these novels tend towards liberal social ideas, such as a strong support for abortion.

These novels were written in 1980s as the Cold War with Russia was nearing its conclusion.

I thoroughly enjoyed them. I picked them up again recently and reread them. The sense of "Red Menace" has diminished given the fall of the USSR, but these books still stand up as good, mindless, entertaining reading.

Gene Roddenbury sometimes described Star Trek as "Wagon Train to the Stairs". I never felt that Star Trek achieved this, but these books are definitely in that vein. If you enjoy frontier, wild West stories, and science fiction, then these novels are a perfect blend.

I discovered this book while my husband was reading the White Indian series.....Donald Clayton Porter, There was a blurb in the back advertising this book. This book is set in 2040, when the Russians are getting ready to launch a nuclear war. Mr. Shaw creates a ship that can "light step" into space. It was interesting to read about other planets that might have "intelligent" life. The people and story are very believable!
I really liked this book.

Well written and plausible science fiction novel & series. Details how in the year 2040 we could and do send ships into space for furthering exploration. Delightful read and easily consummable.

I read this series of books ten years ago, up until book 3 or 4, after which I didn't come across the title again for some reason. However, I remember being decidedly uneasy about the course that the series seemed to be beginning to take - the "android" taking the place of the "human" character and the spouse seeming to fully accept it. The South Africans. A few other things too. I just felt, er - uh - a bit uneasy about this stuff. How did the rest of the series treat these issues? Also, now that I'm a little older and wiser, I see a few flaws in the story, but as pure plot and fun reading goes, the series had a lot going for it, and I'm curious as to how it ended.

I was 16 when I picked up the first in this series. When I was 17 all the books were lost, and I'd made it through the third book. I have just found the 3rd, 4th, and 5th after searching for a decade. Having finished the series, I can tell you the search was worth it. Every minute.

I need to get books one and two so I can start reading the set over again.

America 2040, the first book in the series, followed by The Golden World, which I actually read first. Events in Vol. 1 were actually clearer because I had read the sequel, than they would have been had I started at the beginning. Had I done it the other way round, one thing that would have bothered me a great deal are several plot lines that were never followed up. This is especially true of Theresita Pulaski and theRussians, a sub-plot that was simply dropped before the end of Vol. 1. It was as if a note should have been added at the end of 2040 saying what would be followed up in the next book. Another strange line is that of Evangeline Burr, the librarian on board the American ship. In Vol. 1, she barely rates a mention, yet in Vol. 2 she is fully described, but more importantly, she has become the recorder of the history of the colony.

Both books are quick reads and somewhat simplistic in their stories. However, there is much more danger and tension throughout 2040 than there is in much of The Golden World. They are pleasant enough and might qualify as "guilty pleasure" reading. It was probably easier to take this story more seriously when it was written, when a nuclear threat from the Soviet Union was more real and America actually seemed to have enough gumption to face the challenge of exploring space, something I will now never see in my lifetime.

I read this series when I was a teenager, starting twenty years ago. I still have the original books. While as I grew older and realized it was somewhat formulaic, it still has the uniqueness of the author's world that does make it good sci-fi.

I was lucky eanough to be able to read the entire series when it first was published in paperback and loved it. Ivew read it several times and never get tired of it. The way the storyline unfolds and the way the characters are described makes you feel that you are right there in the middle of it, and the political concepts are mindboggling. I just wish he had continued the series even after the colapse of the Soviet Union.

I've read all five series at least five times and could reread them again and again. They are full of action that you can't put the books down. They are worth getting your hands on.

Not just another Science Fiction book. Though it is set in the future, it is a book about people. I would suggest this book (and all the others in the series) to anyone that enjoys a good story. It was easy reading, entertaining, and has managed to hold my interest for many years of re-reading! I have read thousands of books, and I can honestly say these are the best books I have ever read. The characters are so real, I feel like I know them! Read and enjoy!