The Peacekeepers

by Ben Bova

It started as another round of the eternal Middle East wars between Israel and its neighbors. In three days it had escalated into a nuclear exchange. By the time four ancient cities had been blown into mushroom clouds, the two great superpowers decided to intervene. For the first time in more than fifty years, the Soviet Union and the United States acted in harmony to end the brief, brutal conflagration that is now called the Final War.

The Final War led to the Athens Peace Conference, where the United States was represented by Harold Red Eagle, the first Native American to be appointed to the US Supreme Court. And Red Eagle chose to represent all of humanity instead of just his nation. With brilliant and irrefutable logic, Red Eagle showed the world how war could be halted. He created the International Peacekeeping Force, based on, but far more powerful than, the old United Nations Peacekeepers. He charged them with preventing any nation on Earth from attacking any other nation, and gave them the weapons to do it. And he forced the US and the Soviets to turn over their strategic defense satellite networks.

It should have been enough, but it wasn’t. Peace is not so easily won. Cynical, manipulative men of every nation tried to control the Peacekeepers for their own purposes. Every nation wanted its neighbors disarmed, while its own arsenal remained intact. It might have been manageable, but for two things:

A renegade terrorist had escaped the destruction of Jerusalem with six nuclear bombs. And the generals in both the US and the Soviet Union realized that no more war meant no more need for armies. Or generals.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Audiobook, War, Speculative Fiction

337 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Ben Bova was born on November 8, 1932 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1953, while attending Temple University, he married Rosa Cucinotta, they had a son and a daughter. He would later divorce Rosa in 1974. In that same year he married Barbara Berson Rose.

Bova was an avid fencer and organized Avco Everett's fencing club. He was an environmentalist, but rejected Luddism.

Bova was a technical writer for Project Vanguard and later for Avco Everett in the 1960s when they did research in lasers and fluid dynamics. It was there that he met Arthur R. Kantrowitz later of the Foresight Institute.

In 1971 he became editor of Analog Science Fiction after John W. Campbell's death. After leaving Analog, he went on to edit Omni during 1978-1982.

In 1974 he wrote the screenplay for an episode of the children's science fiction television series Land of the Lost entitled "The Search".

Bova was the science advisor for the failed television series The Starlost, leaving in disgust after the airing of the first episode. His novel The Starcrossed was loosely based on his experiences and featured a thinly veiled characterization of his friend and colleague Harlan Ellison. He dedicated the novel to "Cordwainer Bird", the pen name Harlan Ellison uses when he does not want to be associated with a television or film project.

Bova was the President Emeritus of the National Space Society and a past President of Science-fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).

Bova went back to school in the 1980s, earning an M.A. in communications in 1987 and a Ph.D. in 1996.

Bova has drawn on these meetings and experiences to create fact and fiction writings rich with references to spaceflight, lasers, artificial hearts, nanotechnology, environmentalism, fencing and martial arts, photography and artists.

Bova was the author of over a hundred and fifteen books, non-fiction as well as science fiction. In 2000, he was the Author Guest of Honor at the 58th World Science Fiction Convention (Chicon 2000).

Hollywood has started to take an interest in Bova's works once again, in addition to his wealth of knowledge about science and what the future may look like. In 2007, he was hired as a consultant by both Stuber/Parent Productions to provide insight into what the world is to look like in the near future for their upcoming film "Repossession Mambo" (released as "Repo Men") starring Jude Law and Forest Whitaker and by Silver Pictures in which he provided consulting services on the feature adaptation of Richard Morgan's "Altered Carbon".

http://us.macmillan.com/author/benbova

Reviews

[Reynard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libro misconosciuto ed è un peccato perché si tratta di un ottimo romanzo di fantascienza su un prossimo futuro "credibile" (in senso fantascientifico). Risente ovviamente del periodo in cui fu scritto (nel 1988 la minaccia nucleare era ancora attuale). Mi sentirei di consigliarlo decisamente agli amanti della fs militare. Il mio voto: 4 stelle.

[Tex-49 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interessante per l'idea della Forza di Pace Internazionale che difende i confini degli Stati e blocca le guerre, sarebbe stata utile oggi per prevenire l'invasione dell'Ucraina, ma in effetti non è neanche la protagonista del romanzo, come ci si sarebbe aspettato dal titolo, ma solo una spettatrice degli eventi. Il continuo andare avanti e indietro nel tempo non facilita la comprensione della trama e le spiegazioni fuori campo di un "archivista" non contribuiscono a facilitare la lettura. E poi i personaggi protagonisti che... (non vado oltre per non spoilerare!)

[Daniel Willis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Premise is after a nuclear war in the Middle East an international peacekeeping force is established with one mission: stop any nation from invading any other nation. But what happens inside national boundaries is unhindered. The book deals with the ramifications of such a setup.

It is laid out more as a collections of short stories than a coherent plot. There was a useless love triangle that took away from it, and did not understand the thinking of the bad guy at the ending (which was too abrupt) The concluding patriotic moment I guess was suppose to be dramatic and inspiring but I felt neither.

Bova published this in 1988 and was to take place in the "near future". It was amusing to see the late 80's fears, treads, and view of future technologies vs. how it really happened. The Soviet Union still exists, Japan, not China, is the Asian power, terrorists have nukes and dirty bombs, cocaine cartels are all powerful and the greatest threat to peace. On the technology side, manned laser satellites patrol the skies, many nations have bases on the moon (run by automated mining equipment), tiny fusion reactors provide cheap power.

The one thing Bova did predict was drones, and that was probably the best "aha" moment in the book. (One minute a pilot is skating in Ottawa, the next flying over on a mission in Eritrea. I was like "how did they fly there so quickly?" but a few pages later it is revealed the pilots are still in Canada remotely piloting drones by virtual reality -- which was quite prescient for 1988)

Overall not enough story for the interesting sci-fi to recommend highly. Felt it could have been much better.

[Shane Mulholland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was a good book, kept me hooked all the way through

[Eric Leeson · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting look at a situation that would develop a "World Peace" situation. The unchecked aggression of nations with powerful militaries against those of weaker ones could only be curbed by an international police force. This is not that far of a jump to a Police State situation; whom could you really trust to control this organization? Sure there are moral individuals that could lead, but politics would prevent almost all of these persons from reaching a level of authority and experience that would be necessary for them to be considered for command of such a global force.

Entertaining, interesting characters, the villains are truly evil in a human way, I enjoyed this attempt at the creation of a better world.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Published in the 1980s but set in the future, this book felt very dated. It started out so slow, with a character I cared nothing about, but I kept listening and eventually there were a few chapters and characters that I cared about. In the best chapter an experienced leader and his inexperienced crew had to fight off a group of traitors in space until help could arrive.

There is an othered magical Indian the narrator annoyingly kept calling an AmerInd (or AmerIn, I listened to it and am not quite sure which). Lots of stereotypes. A totally unnecessary love triangle. And then an awful and unexpected ending. Two stars for the ending.

Bova is a good writer but this is not a good book. The narrator was good though.

[Konstantine · Rating 2 out of 5]

my first bova

it’s not bad its perfectly readable but it feels less like a near future sci fi novel and more just a tom clancy type deal with some futuristic tech sprinkled in. you have your evil middle eastern terrorist trying to undermine world peace efforts, main characters that are described to have interesting personalities and the like but are often outshined by background characters, lack of interesting ideas etc etc

id be open to reading another one of ben bovas novels this seems more restrained than his usual work but i wasnt impressed here

[Jeff J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The problem with writing near-future science fiction is that the underlying premise can easily become obsolete. This is particularly true when dealing with politics. The Peacekeepers was published in 1988, who knew the Soviet Union would be gone in a few short years? To be fair, some projections in the novel seem oddly prescient, but that doesn't make this book essential reading.

[Greg Fletcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was right on the edge of making 4 stars for me. Maybe I just subconsciously compared it to the other Bova novels. It was futuristic with a bit of espionage involved. Well written with the "Bova" style of descriptiveness. Not too much but just enough. Do not expect a traditional ending. Give it a read. I think you'll like it.

[Dwayne Coleman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this a long time ago. Good action sequences, but a rather improbable plot, and rather unbelievable characters or cardboard stock characters. I'd like for some one like Harold Red Eagle to exist, but I know he doesn't.

[George · Rating 2 out of 5]

In typical Bova style, there were a lot of persons in the story. It is laid out more as a collections of short stories than a coherent plot. Dull story lines around a world wide peacekeeping authority that many politicians don't want. Bova has done better.

[Brian Bohmueller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of chauvinistic characters along this novel's dull story lines, still there are some compelling global peace making ideas embedded in this tangled yarn worth considering.

[Philip Chaston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of its time....globalist sf?

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Duration: 9:17:49

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

This read did not hold me to the pages as apposed to other Bova reads.

[Kadin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid sci-fi story that tracks with what I've come to expect from Bova. A strong male lead bent on revenge/achieving his life's mission, sidebar love triange, an end-of-world scenario, and an over-the-top, totally unrealistic political situation. Still, the writing is good and the story isn't really bad, just kind of predictable. Good twist at the end, though.

[Anthony Zappia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a little mediocre about this book. It starts well enough. The story is narrated by an 'archivist' of the International Peacekeeping Force, set up after a nuclear exchange destroys 4 cities in the Middle-East. Funny thing is you never learn who this archivist is. At any rate, the story begins with the troubles that beset this new organisation established to create peace in the world. But then the last 2/3 of the book is about a group of individuals who aren't even a part of the IPF. I think Bova should have re-named the book. I've given this book 3 stars but really it's 2 1/2 stars. Like I said, I thought it was mediocre.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this one :) I was temporarily confused because it's sci-fi set in the near future and it seemed reasonably up-to-date on the trajectory of modern technology, but the Soviet Union was still around. Turns out it was published in 1988. So: hats off to the author for managing to predict fairly accurately what present-day tech looks like. Now if only we can get nuclear fusion to work properly we'll be all set.

[Peregrine 12 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, classic sci-fi. One thing I like about the good science fiction: it points to a 'possible' future, unrealistic but not unattainable. This book was like that. Kind of makes me wish we had a worldwide peace keeping agency today...

[colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

read 01.04.06

[Frank Taranto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only Bova book I've read.

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good read keeping in mind that it was written before the fall of the Soviet Union. The events just prior to the conclsion were surprising in that I really didn't see it coming.

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty typical Ben Bova - fast-paced scifi with a lot of political drama.

[Kevin Eccles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book, interesting...but very focused on interesting exposition rather than deep characters.