{"id":2621,"date":"2021-01-23T20:32:11","date_gmt":"2021-01-24T02:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lfs.org\/blog\/?p=2621"},"modified":"2024-05-10T20:47:22","modified_gmt":"2024-05-11T01:47:22","slug":"a-pioneering-anthology-about-the-promise-of-liberty-and-perils-of-tyranny-the-survival-of-freedom-the-2001-prometheus-hall-of-fame-winner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/a-pioneering-anthology-about-the-promise-of-liberty-and-perils-of-tyranny-the-survival-of-freedom-the-2001-prometheus-hall-of-fame-winner\/","title":{"rendered":"Pioneering anthology about the promise of liberty, perils of tyranny: The Survival of Freedom, the 2001 Prometheus Hall of Fame winner"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s the Prometheus Blog Appreciation for The Survival of Freedom,<\/em> edited by Jerry Pournelle and John F. Carr, the 2001 Prometheus Hall of Fame winner:<\/p>\n

By Michael Grossberg<\/a><\/p>\n

The Survival of Freedom\u00a0<\/em>was one of the first sf anthologies to explore the future of liberty.<\/p>\n

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It also has the distinction of being the first (and so far, only) anthology to be inducted (in 2001) into the Prometheus Hall of Fame. This broad awards category for classic fiction is open to any works first published, broadcast or staged more than 20 years ago and encompasses many types of fiction \u2013 including but not limited to novels, novellas, stories, plays, poems, songs, musicals, films, TV episodes, series, trilogies and anthologies.<\/p>\n

Edited by Jerry Pournelle and John F. Carr, the 1981 anthology of stories and essays is notable for its wide-ranging and sometimes surprising collection of material.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In their introduction, they describe the anthology as \u201ca journey into the fascinating future of freedom\u201d as well as a cautionary exercise exploring frightening authoritarian scenarios of \u201crevolutionary utopias\u201d that bring horrors greater than ever experienced before.<\/p>\n

The editors selected a wide variety of short fiction for an anthology that aimed to encompass some of the best libertarian and anti-authoritarian short fiction written by sf authors and other fiction writers during the 20th<\/sup>century.
\nThe blend of fiction and non-fiction offers interesting perspectives that invite the reader to imagine both futuristic scenarios and real-world examples that affect our liberties and determine whether particular societies will flourish and progress or stagnate.<\/p>\n

As might be expected, the anthology includes contributions from such notable name sf authors as Robert Heinlein, Poul Anderson and Ursula LeGuin (all coincidentally, Prometheus Award winners).<\/p>\n

Yet, it also includes writings from authors one might not expect to find in such a collection \u2013 from British Catholic philosopher-theologian-critic G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), who offered critiques of both conservatism and progressivism, to American poet and environmentalist Robinson Jeffers (1887-1962), a powerful voice against war and tyranny.<\/p>\n

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Chesterton\u2019s contribution, both amusing and sad, is \u201cThe Horrible History of Jones.\u201d The 1915 poem, about a man and his dog, reflects his individualism and sense of humor in the face of encroaching bureaucracy and intrusive regulations that can threaten both life and liberty. But the poem also can be read as a lament about \u201ca land of old and just renown, Where Freedom slowly broadened down, From Precedent to Precedent…\u201d<\/p>\n

Jefferson\u2019s contribution is also a poem, \u201cThe Stars Go Over the Lonely Ocean,\u201d and penned in 1940, when the rise of collectivism and statism in the mass-murdering forms of Hitler\u2019s national socialism and Stalin\u2019s communism were threatening civilization itself.<\/p>\n

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Here\u2019s an excerpt, which seems strangely resonant 80 years later:
\n\u201cThe world\u2019s in a bad way, my man.
\nAnd bound to be worse before it mends;
\nBetter to lie up in the mountain here
\nFour or five centuries.
\nWhile the stars go over the lonely ocean,\u201d<\/p>\n

Said the old father of wild pigs,
\nPloughing the fallow on Mal Paso Mountain.
\n\u201cKeep clear of the dupes that talk democracy
\nAnd the dogs that bark revolution,
\nDrunk with talk, liars and believers.
\nI believe in my tusks.
\nLong live freedom and damn the ideologies…\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the best-known stories in the anthology is Harlan Ellison\u2019s \u201cRepent, Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman,\u201d a satirical dystopian 1965 story that years later (in 2015) was itself inducted into the Prometheus Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

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Also satirical and amusing is F. Paul Wilson\u2019s \u201cLipidleggin,\u201d a prescient 1978 short story imagining a near-future Prohibitionist era where recent American trends toward health fascism and nationalized health care have resulted in the Food Police going after outlaws who still insist on selling and eating such contraband as real butter. (The story later received independent recognition as a 2020 and 2021 Prometheus Hall of Fame finalist.)<\/p>\n

Among the other authors and stories in the anthology: Randall Garrett (\u201cThe Measure of a Man,\u201d 1960); Gordon R. Dickson (\u201cEnter a Pilgrim,\u201d 1974); Ursula LeGuin (\u201cSQ,\u201d 1978); Kevin O\u2019Donnell Jr. (\u201cThe Looking Glass of the Law,\u201d 1978); Rachel Cosgrove Payes (\u201cEscape to the Suburbs,\u201d 1978); William Tenn (\u201cThe Liberation of Earth,\u201d 1953); Norman Spinrad (\u201cSierra Maestra,\u201d 1975); Poul Anderson (\u201cAmong Thieves,\u201d a 1957 novelette); Larry Niven (\u201cJigsaw Man,\u201d 1967, part of his Known Space universe); C. Bruce Hunter (\u201cKiss Them Goodbye\u201d); Jack Vance (\u201cDodkin\u2019s Job,\u201d a 1959 novelette); A.E. van Vogt (\u201cIdentity,\u201d 1978); and Thomas Wylde\u2019s \u201cFull Freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

To underline the dramatic point of the wide-ranging stories and poems, Carr and Pournelle included explicit essays about a variety of topics.<\/p>\n

One brief but brilliant essay is libertarian theorist-economist David Friedman\u2019s \u201cLove is Not Enough\u201d (1973), a persuasive explanation of how love and free trade are related and why they are the only moral and practical alternatives to force.<\/p>\n

Another essay \u2013 \u201cDefending and Extending the Freedom to Innovate,\u201d by John McCarthy, director of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratories at Stanford University \u2013 seems prescient today in having singled out an oft-unsung or underappreciated aspect of liberty as a foundation of real progress in the practical betterment of humankind through science, technology and markets. (That rich theme, by the way, is explored in even more fascinating depth in the liberty-loving British science writer Matt Ridley\u2019s latest must-read book, How Innovation Works, and Why It Flourishes in Freedom.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Other illuminating essays include Russell Kirk\u2019s \u201cConditions of Freedom\u201d (1956); Victor Herman and Fred E. Dohrs\u2019 \u201cThe True Horror of Soviet Internal Exile From Dissent to Docility\u201d (1980); Robert Heinlein\u2019s \u201cGive Me Liberty\u201d (1980); Stefan T. Possony\u2019s \u201cFreedom in the Wake of Hegel and Marx;\u201d and Pournelle\u2019s \u201cThe Right to Punishment,\u201d \u201cThe Civil Rights Dilemma\u201d and \u201cThe Future of Liberty.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is an excellent anthology to browse through, reading something here, then something there. But don\u2019t skip over the introductions; Pournelle often makes amusing, revealing, highly literate and historically aware points that are worth considering on their own merits.<\/p>\n

Note: Jerry Pournelle\u00a0<\/strong>(1933-2017) \u2013 recognized as the first author to have written a published book contribution using a word processor on a personal computer, in 1977 – also won the 1992 Prometheus Award for Best Novel for Fallen Angels<\/em>, co-authored by Larry Niven and Michael Flynn.<\/p>\n

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Jerry Pournelle in 2005 (Creative Commons license)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Among his bestselling other novels: Lucifer\u2019s Hammer, Footfall, The Mote in God\u2019s Eye <\/em>and Oath of Fealty<\/em>, all co-written with Larry Niven; Janissaries, Heorot, The Mercenary, Starswarm\u00a0<\/em>and Exiles to Glory.<\/em><\/p>\n

Pournelle suggested several \u201claws,\u201d the best-known of which is \u201cPournelle\u2019s iron law of bureaucracy.\u201d To wit: \u201cIn any bureaucracy, the people devoted to the benefit of the bureaucracy itself always get in control and those dedicated to he goals the bureaucracy is supposed to accomplish have less and less influence, and sometimes are eliminated entirely.\u201d<\/p>\n

John F. Carr<\/strong>, who has edited 27 theme anthologies and short-story collections, has written eight novels (including Time Crime, Rainbow Run<\/em>and The Ophidian Conspiracy<\/em>) and many short stories. He edited The Bulletin of the Science Fiction Writers of America.<\/p>\n

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John Carr, sf editor (Creative Commons license)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As executor of the literary estate of H. Beam Piper (winner of the 1999 Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction for A Planet for Texans<\/em>), Carr wrote fiction extending Piper\u2019s characters and imagined futures, includingThe Fuzzy Conundrum\u00a0<\/em>(in Piper\u2019s Little Fuzzy\u00a0<\/em>series) and Great Kings\u2019 War, Kalvan Kingmaker, The Fireseed Wars<\/em>and Gunpowder God\u00a0<\/em>(in Piper\u2019s Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen\u00a0<\/em>series). Carr also has written two biographies of Piper.<\/p>\n

* Coming up soon on the Prometheus Blog:\u00a0<\/strong>Anders Monsen\u2019s Appreciation of Patrick McGoohan\u2019s classic TV series The Prisoner, the 2002 Prometheus<\/em>Hall of Fame winner.<\/em><\/p>\n

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* See related\u00a0 introductory essay<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 about the LFS\u2019 40th<\/sup>anniversary retrospective series of Appreciations of past Prometheus Awards winners, with an overview of the awards\u2019 four-decade history.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Other Prometheus winners:<\/strong>\u00a0For a full list of winners \u2013 for the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards \u2013 visit the recently updated and enhanced\u00a0Prometheus Awards page<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 on the LFS website.<\/p>\n

* Read\u00a0\u201cThe Libertarian History of Science Fiction,\u201d<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 an essay in the June 2020 issue of the international magazine\u00a0Quillette<\/em>\u00a0that favorably highlights the Prometheus Awards, the Libertarian Futurist Society and the significant element of libertarian sf\/fantasy in the modern genre.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Join us<\/strong>! To help sustain the Prometheus Awards,\u00a0join<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 the Libertarian Futurist Society (LFS), a non-profit volunteer association of libertarian sf\/fantasy fans and freedom-lovers.
\nLibertarian futurists believe cultural change is as (or more) vital as political change in achieving universal individual rights and a better world (perhaps eventually, worlds) for all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s the Prometheus Blog Appreciation for The Survival of Freedom, edited by Jerry Pournelle and John F. Carr, the 2001 Prometheus Hall of Fame winner: By Michael Grossberg The Survival of Freedom\u00a0was one of the first sf anthologies to explore the future of liberty. It also has the distinction of being the first (and so … Continue reading Pioneering anthology about the promise of liberty, perils of tyranny: The Survival of Freedom, the 2001 Prometheus Hall of Fame winner<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[43,2353,1910,160,1861,8,1860],"tags":[853,899,896,735,17,895,897,6,21,866,898,894],"class_list":["post-2621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appreciations","category-book-reviews","category-f-paul-wilson","category-hall-of-fame","category-poul-anderson","category-review","category-robert-heinlein","tag-david-friedman","tag-essays","tag-g-k-chesterton","tag-harlan-ellison","tag-jerry-pournelle","tag-john-f-carr","tag-poems","tag-poul-anderson","tag-robert-heinlein","tag-rudyard-kipling","tag-stories","tag-the-survival-of-freedom"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe8nGl-Gh","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2621"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7507,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2621\/revisions\/7507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}