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Sam Hall
The story is set in a 21st-century in which the United States has descended into totalitarianism (while retaining the outward forms of republican government) in the aftermath of two additional world wars. Conventional wisdom (as relayed by the story's viewpoint character) maintains that the US loss in World War III had forced the nation to become a "garrison state" in order to prevail in World War IV, but it is not specified who the combatants in either of these conflicts had been; the USSR is never mentioned in the story (aside from the suggestive detail that Moscow, Idaho has been renamed to "Americatown.")
The story's World War IV may be identical with a conflict ten years prior to the events of "Sam Hall," in which China had carried out "abortive" nuclear attacks on several American cities; the viewpoint character comes to suspect this may have been a false flag conducted by the US regime itself. At some point prior to that, the US had also fought and won a war against Brazil; the viewpoint character is certain this was a pretext to obtain basing rights and minerals.
At the point when the story takes place, the US regime appears to exercise some form of security hegemony over the entire rest of the Earth, with the Anglosphere nations enjoying some form of autonomy. The US also has exclusive control over human settlement of the Solar System; the most important of these is a pre-Mariner habitable Venus, which hosts thorium mines operated by conscript labor under inhuman conditions, though there are colonies on Mars, the Moon, and the Jovian satellites as well.
The story's World War IV may be identical with a conflict ten years prior to the events of "Sam Hall," in which China had carried out "abortive" nuclear attacks on several American cities; the viewpoint character comes to suspect this may have been a false flag conducted by the US regime itself. At some point prior to that, the US had also fought and won a war against Brazil; the viewpoint character is certain this was a pretext to obtain basing rights and minerals.
At the point when the story takes place, the US regime appears to exercise some form of security hegemony over the entire rest of the Earth, with the Anglosphere nations enjoying some form of autonomy. The US also has exclusive control over human settlement of the Solar System; the most important of these is a pre-Mariner habitable Venus, which hosts thorium mines operated by conscript labor under inhuman conditions, though there are colonies on Mars, the Moon, and the Jovian satellites as well.
Unknown Binding
Published August 1, 1953
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About the author
Poul Anderson
1,625 books1,112 followersPseudonym A. A. Craig, Michael Karageorge, Winston P. Sanders, P. A. Kingsley.
Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories. He received numerous awards for his writing, including seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards.
Anderson received a degree in physics from the University of Minnesota in 1948. He married Karen Kruse in 1953. They had one daughter, Astrid, who is married to science fiction author Greg Bear. Anderson was the sixth President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, taking office in 1972. He was a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America, a loose-knit group of Heroic Fantasy authors founded in the 1960s, some of whose works were anthologized in Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! anthologies. He was a founding member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1985 novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls to Anderson and eight of the other members of the Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy.[2][3]
Poul Anderson died of cancer on July 31, 2001, after a month in the hospital. Several of his novels were published posthumously.
Series:
* Time Patrol
* Psychotechnic League
* Trygve Yamamura
* Harvest of Stars
* King of Ys
* Last Viking
* Hoka
* Future history of the Polesotechnic League
* Flandry
Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories. He received numerous awards for his writing, including seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards.
Anderson received a degree in physics from the University of Minnesota in 1948. He married Karen Kruse in 1953. They had one daughter, Astrid, who is married to science fiction author Greg Bear. Anderson was the sixth President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, taking office in 1972. He was a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America, a loose-knit group of Heroic Fantasy authors founded in the 1960s, some of whose works were anthologized in Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! anthologies. He was a founding member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1985 novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls to Anderson and eight of the other members of the Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy.[2][3]
Poul Anderson died of cancer on July 31, 2001, after a month in the hospital. Several of his novels were published posthumously.
Series:
* Time Patrol
* Psychotechnic League
* Trygve Yamamura
* Harvest of Stars
* King of Ys
* Last Viking
* Hoka
* Future history of the Polesotechnic League
* Flandry
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June 30, 2024
An amazing tale of a high-surveillance dystopia and how Sam Hall became the spanner in the works.
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