Saturday, August 14, 2004
Millennium
by Ben Bova
This is a book I've been meaning to reread for five years now. I've had it on my shelf since my high school days. It's set in December of 1999... as envisioned in the mid-seventies. The world is going to hell in a handbasket. Energy is scarce, pollution is running rampant, and the United States and the Soviet Union are both racing to gain the tactical high ground as they both endeavor to complete their orbital anti-ballistic missile defense systems. Colonel Chet Kinsman, commander of the American Moonbase, is sick of it. Moonbase is a lunar colony existing side by side with the Soviet station Lunagrad. The stations were built years earlier, when a brief spirit of co-operation existed between the two superpowers. That spirit still exists amongst the lunar colonists, fueled by the necessity of interdependence to survive the dangerous environment. As the threat of war grows closer, Kinsman tries to insure that the inhabitants of the Moon will retain their peaceful lifestyle despite events on Earth. Of course, such independence is a complex thing and Kinsman's efforts have repercussions that go far beyond his plans. It's an interesting tale about what might have been. In one sense, I'm glad I put off rereading this book so long. I think the book with its elements of environmental troubles, patriotism, and looming world war would have seemed more anachronistic in 1999 than it does in 2004. Anyway, as a book of speculative future that has become alternate history, Millennium has aged well.
LibraryThing link
This is a book I've been meaning to reread for five years now. I've had it on my shelf since my high school days. It's set in December of 1999... as envisioned in the mid-seventies. The world is going to hell in a handbasket. Energy is scarce, pollution is running rampant, and the United States and the Soviet Union are both racing to gain the tactical high ground as they both endeavor to complete their orbital anti-ballistic missile defense systems. Colonel Chet Kinsman, commander of the American Moonbase, is sick of it. Moonbase is a lunar colony existing side by side with the Soviet station Lunagrad. The stations were built years earlier, when a brief spirit of co-operation existed between the two superpowers. That spirit still exists amongst the lunar colonists, fueled by the necessity of interdependence to survive the dangerous environment. As the threat of war grows closer, Kinsman tries to insure that the inhabitants of the Moon will retain their peaceful lifestyle despite events on Earth. Of course, such independence is a complex thing and Kinsman's efforts have repercussions that go far beyond his plans. It's an interesting tale about what might have been. In one sense, I'm glad I put off rereading this book so long. I think the book with its elements of environmental troubles, patriotism, and looming world war would have seemed more anachronistic in 1999 than it does in 2004. Anyway, as a book of speculative future that has become alternate history, Millennium has aged well.
LibraryThing link
Labels: OnMyShelf
// posted by John @ 3:22 PM 
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]
