Manifest Destiny

by Barry B. Longyear

Manifest Destiny Humankind's early reach for the stars:

The Jaren: five young backland aliens enlist to do war with the humans. Enemy Mine: the story that became the motion picture. Savage Planet: a teacher lifts an entire world and himself out of the dark. USE Force: a young man enlists to search for himself and instead finds his destiny.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Collections

245 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 1, 1980

About the author

Barry Brookes Longyear was an American science fiction author who resided in New Sharon, Maine.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fix-up novel containing three novellas and some framing material, with an extended concluding and unifying piece. As the title suggests, it's a story of conquest and rivalry, but his goal is to examine ways in which such conflicts can be avoided with understanding and patience, and he succeeds quite ably. The middle section, Enemy Mine, is Longyear's best-known work, and was the basis of a very successful film, as well as a curious expanded novelization by David Gerrold. The third story, Savage Planet, is not as well known, but is just as stirring and well-written. Altogether a very good book, quite arguably his best.

[PAR · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.4 Stars! Nice companion stories to The Enemy Papers. Not directly related but share the same universe. 4 main stories that are connected by Legislative records. Individual story ratings and comments below…

The Jaren: 3.75 stars. Very good overall and quite interesting.

Enemy Mine: 4.75 Stars! Excellent. I just thought the movie novelization version was perfect. So if you can get your hands on it, then I would recommend that one. But this is great too. It’s just missing some important messages.

Savage Planet: 5 Stars! That was excellent. Great writing and story. Thankfully a good ending. Thoroughly enjoyed.

USE Force: 4.25 Stars! Brutal war story. But very good and somewhat addicting. A little bit reminiscent of Starship Troopers.

The Jaren Quotes:
"To understand the meaning of this place to me, you must understand me, and for that you must understand from where I came… Listen, human, while I take words and grant life to those who I am not yet able to grant death.” (p12-13)
“I nodded, took a deep breath, and felt a great weight lift from my heart. There would still be pain, but being Shikazu was my shield. In a manner of speaking, all Shikazu belonged to a single great Jaren—a band sworn to our brothers and traditions, founded upon our one truth: the Shikazu cannot be conquered.” (p61)
“Now, we are as the kazu wandering lost in the jungle—awaiting the final victory of time. We can be killed, but we can never be conquered. We are Shikazu.” (p62)

Enemy Mine Quotes:
- “There is a universe out there, a universe of life, objects, and events. There are differences, but it is all the same universe, and we all must obey the same universal laws.”
- “If you are alone with yourself, you will forever be alone with others.”

Savage Planet Quotes:
“You're selling your professional soul for eleven hundred a month; why not sell for twenty-five hundred? It's the same soul in either case…” (p143)
“Is there something more important? The humans Fellman talks of. They failed, but they... failed serving something more important than themselves. Perhaps that is the lesson Fellman would have us learn.” (p157)
“Intelligent life rules other life. But it is not the destiny of intelligent life to rule intelligent life. The destiny of intelligent life is not to be ruled. As creatures of choice, it is our nature to be free to choose. Rule is existence by the choice of others as instinct is existence by the choice of nature.” (p158)
“Without a right to exist at some place, no other rights can exist.” (p162)

USE Force Quotes:
“Don't want to know their names, Merit. Don't make any difference to them, but if you knew who they were it'd make a difference to you. Too much.” (p204)
“You're right. Everybody says so. See, Merit, you know when to disobey orders. I couldn't do that. That's why the Ronnies picked you. My guess is they figure you to work for what you think is right. People like you are supposed to protect everybody from people like me. Now beat it. I'm tired.” (p244)

[James]

Manifest Destiny-Humankind's early reach for the stars:"The Jaren," five young backland aliens enlist to do war with the humans. "Enemy Mine," (the story that became the motion picture). "Savage Planet," a teacher lifts an entire world, and himself out of the dark. "USE Force," a young man enlists to search for himself and instead finds his destiny.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok, so this is basically a rewrite of the film Hell in the Pacific , set in space but no worse for that.

[Stephen Rowland · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Enemy Mine" is a fine novella, almost but not quite ruined by its sentimentality. The other stories here are completely uninteresting.

[Raj · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Author: Barry B. Longyear] is a name in science fiction that I'd not heard before, but on the strength of this collection of linked stories, I'm certainly going to look out for him in future. In 2032, the United States of Earth passes a Resolve that Man shall be supreme in the Universe and no other considerations shall get in the way of that. What follows are a set of stories and novellas that follow humanity as they try and follow that Resolve, encounter other intelligent life and slowly start to see the error of the Resolve.

The highlight of the book for me was the novella Enemy Mine, which has two soldiers on opposite sides being stranded on an uninhabited planet, with only each other for company and they need to rely on each other for survival. This is a recurring theme in science fiction, but it was executed so well here, with the Human and the Drac both being drawn well and the walls between them slowly coming down.

Savage Planet was also an excellent story, with a group of history teachers being brought in by a mining corporation to cow the native inhabitants into submission by showing them the awesome history of Mankind. The rebellion of the teachers and how they come to turn the situation around with (almost) no bloodshed is carried of with great flair.

A great collection from an author that I look forward to reading more of.

[Isabel (kittiwake) · Rating 4 out of 5]

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED:
That the Legislative Assembly of the Government of the United States of Earth, in all related matters that shall come before it, will decide all such matters in accordance with the Manifest Destiny of Man, that He shall reign supreme in this and in any and all other galaxies of the Universe.

Manifest Destiny contains four novellas about mankind's warlike attitude as we expand into the stars, with linking sections taken from the proceedings of the United Sates of Earth's legislature, as it struggles to define Earth's relationship with the other space-faring races of the galaxy. I read the novella Enemy Mine a long time ago. It was definitely before it was made into a film as I remember leaving the cinema complaining how rubbish it was compared to the book, so I must have read it in the early 1980s.

My favourite is the poignant, "The Jaren", while my least favourite was "USE Force" as I am not a fan of military science fiction, and too much time was spent on descriptions of training and battles for my taste, although I warmed to it once Merit was in the Prisoner of War camp and I liked the ending.

[David C. Mueller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book combines three novellas by the author with other material to form one unified novel. One of the novellas, "Enemy Mine", was made into an admirable science fiction film in the 1980's. The novel documents the development of star-faring humanity from the mid 21st century to the early 22nd century. As the decades pass with increasing interaction with other sentient species, humans are shown moving from a belief that they are destined to rule the galaxy to the realization that their best interests are served by becoming responsible galactic citizens. The "Enemy Mine" material is recognizable by those who have seen the movie, but in the novel the author has a more angst-filled outcome for the main characters.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has been with me some years and was a real find - I had read the short story Manifest Destiny some years ago as part of an anthology - now it has been collected together and used as a series of short stories that form Manifest Destiny, the title of which comes from a short story at the beginning of the book which then forms a bridge between the other stories including now Enemy mine. The stories are cleverly written and on the whole can and do stand alone - but they have a greater impact as part of the linked series. This book set me on the road to reading more by Barry B Longyear

[Jakub Šefčík · Rating 4 out of 5]

Díky měgaúspěchu Mého nepřítele to vypadá, že Longyear je něčím jako autorem jednoho rádiového hitu. Ani jsem nevěděl, že ještě něco jiného napsal. Ostatní povídky jsou většinou military, ale celkově je to čtivé a lepší, než jsem čekal.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

i bought this book for "enemy mine," and figured since i had it, i'd read the others, too. enemy mine was great, the rest were readable.

[Andy]

SF ANTHOLOGY BASE DIN THE UNIVERSE OF 'ENEMY MINE' AND INCLUDING THAT NOVELLA

[SciFiOne · Rating 4 out of 5]

1988 grade B

Short novel

Series book EM1

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid sci-fi to scratch the Starship Troopers itch.