Customer Reviews

The Robert Heinlein Interview and Other Heinleiniana

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Any Heinlein fanatic is always on the lookout for anything either by or about the man. This book has some 20,000 words from him, mainly about his political beliefs, but also with a few insights into some of his novels, methods of writing, and his characters, though I think someone versed in Heinlein's works can gain more of this latter from the interstitial material in Expanded Universe.

Schulman did this as a phone interview in 1973, when Schulman was in his early twenties, and like most young men, he was obviously sure that he had the answers to the riddles of the universe. This attitude comes through very strongly, and it is quite interesting to see how Heinlein carefully sidestepped any endorsement of the agenda Schulman was pushing without being either condescending or confrontational, even if Schulman's agenda was close to Heinlein's own ideas about government. Heinlein comes across here as a man who is comfortable with his own value set that he had built up from continual queries and observations over his life span, and dealing with such an upstart was old hat. But it is also clear from this that Heinlein's core beliefs in regards to the role of government is very definitely Libertarian in nature. Those who have read The Moon is a Harsh Mistress will recognize the portrait of Professor de la Paz in his comments here - I was strongly reminded of Prof's comments about various types of anarchists and how he could get along with most of them, even though none of them matched his own beliefs. More than anything else, though, this interview brings out very clearly that much of the philosophy and opinions about the state of the world that permeate his novels (especially his later ones) were things that Heinlein himself believed in, and were not just ideas he threw into his books to stir up debate.

Besides the interview itself, the rest of this book is filled with other items Schulman has written about Heinlein or his books. As these items were written over a span of many years and for multiple different markets, you will find certain things repeated: the basic biographical sketch of Heinlein, certain repeated (memorable) quotes from Heinlein, etc. His reviews of various Heinlein novels, however, I thought were very shallow, regardless of the fact that someone thought they were good enough to not only print, but pay him for. There are probably far better reviews of these novels here on this site, even though they're written by `amateurs'. Schulman should also have done a better job of proofreading this material - at one point he misspells Samuel R. Delany's last name, and there are quite a few typos riddling this material.

Thus, other than the interview itself, this book has little to offer. And the interview is not as informative as it could have been, given Schulman's obvious agenda, though it does provide another view into just what kind of man Heinlein was. Recommended for dyed-in-the-wool Heinlein fans only.

---Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)

This book contains an interview with the great American writer Robert A. Heinlein conducted in the early 1970s when Heinlein was under attack by literary acedemia for being a fascist militarist. It's obvious from the interview that Heinlein believed in a strong VOLUNTEER military, but that he was at his very core a constitutionalist who dearly loved freedom and fervently opposed all forms of slavery.

In the decades since, it has become much more common to label Heinlein as a libertarian. But back in that part of the 20th century, Heinlein risked a lot by admitting to being a libertarian (rather than a conservative, which light readers might have assumed). He lost support on the Right and gained little on the Left from the admission. In light of that, The Heinlein Interview is an historical record of a shift -- not only in Heinlein's politics, but that of the American nation.

Heinlein has given interviews before and since on the subject of writing, or what his favorite book is, or whether America should go back to the Moon. But this was the first (and, as far as I've seen, the most in-depth) discussion Heinlein has ever allowed in print concerning his very deeply held political beliefs. This should be a boon to biographers and the curious alike.

The rest of the book consists of miscellaneous exchanges (the "Heinleiniana" of the title) between Heinlein and J. Neil Schulman, an award-winning author in his own right (Alongside Night and The Rainbow Cadenza are two very good novels). It's interesting to read along as the callow Schulman grows into a mature writer and thinker under the tutelage of the patient and understanding Obi-Wan Heinlein.

I liked reading this. Anyone interested in Heinlein who can approach the work and the man without preconceived notions will come away seeing him through new(er) eyes. People who hate Heinlein will learn that he knew exactly why they hated him and that he accepted their enmity with enormous pride.

When the ephemeral writers of the 20th century fade away because they wrote about ephemeral, negative things, Heinlein will be remembered and elevated because he wrote about values eternal and mankind triumphant. He truly was the dean of science fiction and -- quite likely -- of American literature.

I consider Robert Heinlein one of the great moral and intellectual guides in my life. His science fiction and essays were guideposts as I grew up. However, I can't recommend J. Neil Schulman's compilation of his interactions with RAH.

The book is rife with typos and is printed in a typeface big enough to qualify for a "Large Print Edition," stamp. ... I should have realized the amateur quality of the publication from the cover photo: a snapshot taken in dim light without a flash. The publisher couldn't even make the effort to color-correct the picture.

Most of the content is Schulman name-dropping and pushing a Libertarian agenda. Not that Libertarianism is a bad thing, it's just Schulman harps on it relentlessly. The foreword by Brad Linaweaver, another flaming Libertarian, intimates that Schulman is a master author, only reined in by Organized Media because of his hard-hitting, challenging, Libertarian-based efforts. If the work in this book is any indication of Schulman's other writing, it isn't a Libertarian stance that's holding him back, it's talent.

The Q&A interview between Schulman and RAH show, to an embarrassingly degree, how shallow Schulman's questions were. Many read like something Comic Book Guy from "The Simpson's" would ask. Granted, Schulman was in his early 20s when he conducted the interview, but most of the interview devolves down to political discussions with a tolerant old man showing a vertically-educated young turk how to think beyond his narrow outlook.

Sadly, you won't get much insight into RAH's thoughts on writing or his creative process; Schulman's too busy asking RAH what he thinks life will be like in a 24th Century inhabited by Lazarus Long.

Spend your money on RAH's own works and you'll get a much better idea of what the man was like and what he thought.

As some one who's read just about every word Heinlein has ever written (Ginny just won't let me have the grocery lists!) I absolutely had to have this book. Unfortunately, Schulman is more interested in discussing his political views than truly telling us about this great writer. There is nothing here that is not better told in other of Heinlein's books. If (like me) you MUST read it download it from pulpless.com for free. If you want to learn more about Heinlein look instead to "Take Back Your Government", "Expanded Universe" or "Tramp Royale" If you want to learn more about Libertarian politics Harry Browne's books give much more information and better supporting arguments.

Considering the hype, I really expected more.
** The interview is only half the book, and the type is HUGE -- despite being a trade paperback, there are only about 80% as many words per page as with your average mass market paperback.
** The interview was unedited, so a non-trivial portion of it consists of, e.g., Heinlein saying "What was that? How do you spell that?" and then Schulman spelling it out.
** The interview itself is about what you would expect from a 20-year-old with a political axe to grind.
** The rest of the book is filler, e.g., letters that Schulman wrote Heinlein, Schulman's reviews of some of Heinlein's books, etc..
** All of the above are spiced with the expected libertarian rantings and hyperbole, e.g., Schulman's claim that anyone who thinks Heinlein was a Fascist is a Marxist. (Heinlein was NOT a fascist, but AT BEST such rejoinders show the same lack of intellectual depth and integrity displayed by some of Heinlein's critics.)
In short, this is a short, expensive book that is more about Schulman than it is about Heinlein. [...]

This interview asked questions of Heinlein that were truly necessary. First, it is important for any reader of his fiction who takes the philosophical questions and positions that he puts forth seriously, to know how seriously the author himself took those questions and those positions. While Heinlein's tone in writing can make a reader fairly sure of the answer to these questions still, he wrote hardly anything but FICTION! His true stance on the positions and questions he put forth needed very much to be stated explicitly. It is also true that Heinlein, whether intending to or not, pursuaded a lot of people to hold certain political views. Now I happen to personally feel that J. Neil Schulman's politics and mine are very close, and, like him, I attribute this to Heinlein's influance on me. But even I must say that I feel the questions on politics take up too much space in the interview. But I also insist that as much truth as there is to the assertion that Heinlein really started current libertarian politics those questions needed to be asked. I feel I have gotten good value from "The Heinlein" interview. I place it as number two among the books that have helped me to really understand Heinlien. Number one is "Expanded Universe" But before this you need to have a good understanding of his fiction. I would advise that you cannot claim to understand this without having read the following books at least: Have Space Suit - Will Travel (my opinion of the best juvenile. but Red Planet, or Podkayne of Mars as well as others may also do.) The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag ~aka~ 6xH (for containing necessary info on cosmological, time travel and solipsist themes he uses repeatedly. You might supplement or substitute with Assignment in eternity.) Time Enough for Love (you can't understand Heinlein without knowing who Lazarus Long is. You may also meet him in Methuselah's Children, The Number of the Beast, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls and To Sail Beyond the Sunset.) Starship Troopers AND Stranger in a Strange Land (Read them both. For one he was called a Fascist, for the other a hippie guru. Obviously he can't be both. (in fact he was neither) And these two were published back to back! In fact he put one aside after it was begun so that he could write the other. Read it, think about it, grok it.)

The interview has a great forthrightness to it, like having lunch with Heinlein and listening to him hold forth. This is the only place I've ever seen his opinions on Ayn Rand, NASA and its incredible ability to make spaceflight boring, and why Heinlein couldn't like one of his characters better than the others. Schulman acquits himself well -- if he hadn't, Heinlein would not have spent an hour with him, let alone 3 & 1/2. I read the _Job_ review with interest, and found the analysis illuminating.
If Heinlein was your 'Dutch Uncle' too, you'll want this book.

Obviously any Heinlein fanatic like myself should own this book. The interview is very interesting and adds some insight to what Heinlein was really like. The draw back is, in both the filler material and to some extent the interview, Schulman has a political axe to grind. This detracted from the interview and other material in the book.

Not recommended unless you are interested in hearing Schulman expound on the virtues of libertarianism. You'll learn more about Heinlein from Expanded Universe and Grumbles from the Grave.

This is a very good book. It includes several letters by the author as well as the interview. The interview confirmed several things I'd suspected about RAH. Highly recommended.