Sixth Column

Robert A. Heinlein

Jan 2012 · Baen Publishing Enterprises

About this ebook

After the U.S. is conquered, an enclave of brilliant misfits leads a rebellion against near-impossible odds. The totalitarian East has triumphed in a massive invasion and the United States has fallen to a dictatorial superpower bent on total domination. That power is consolidating its grip via concentration camps, police state tactics, and a total monopoly upon the very thoughts of the conquered populace. A tiny enclave of scientists and soldiers survives, unbeknownst to America's new rulers. It's six against six million¾but those six happen to include a scientific genius, a master of subterfuge and disguise who learned his trade as a lawyer-turned-hobo, and a tough-minded commander who knows how to get the best out of his rag-tag assortment of American discontents, wily operators, and geniuses. It's going to take technological savvy and a propaganda campaign that would leave Madison Avenue aghast, but the U.S. will rise again. The counterinsurgency for freedom is on, and defeat is not an option.

At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).

Ratings and reviews

a classic heinlein YA story that I enjoyed greatly when I was in High School, but on reflection, is unfortunately a product of the times where implicit racism and prejudice were deeply ingrained in this particular story. read it if you want to walk down memory lane, but I would not recommend it as a YA story anymore, at least not without a long discussion with the kid before and after reading it. What is great about RAH is that he clearly changed his beliefs over time, and reading this story in line with the rest of his works, you can see him move from a full throated Eisenhower republican, with strong belief in collective nationalism, strong individuals who support a benevolent government, to an independent, to what I can only describe as leaning toward John Birch Society craziness... sad to me in some ways, but I still gobbled up every book and short story of his that I could lay my hands on. Only later in my life did I really start to see just how far right libertarian he ended up leaning in his later years.

Great read. Reminds me of a more recent series by William Johnstone, 'Out of The Ashes.' Oh but the left salivates thinking about the power they could have in a dystopian world such as this.

Phenomenal and ecstatic with each page of exasperatingly eceptionalional page thereafter