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(More customer reviews)Poul Anderson was one of the undisputed Grand Masters of Science Fiction, and these are some of his better stories. Poul Anderson created a dazzling "future history" scenario in which mankind has perfected cheap and reliable interstellar space travel, and expanded into the Galaxy. In doing so, mankind meets many alien races, and author Anderson is a master at imagining biologically and psychologically credible alien races. The author also postulates that when humans travel to the stars, they will bring with them all of our flaws--avarice and greed. Capitalism and freedom (the author believes that the two go hand-in-hand) require elbow room, says the author in one of these stories, and the Galaxy is the ultimate elbow room in which capitalism, for a time, flourishes.
These stories range from the beginning to the end of what the author calls Technic Civilization, more specifically the Polesotechnic League ("League of Selling Skills") -- a sprawling, brawling combine of merchantilist corporations spread throughout the Galaxy. Their interactions with alien cultures and races is the overarching theme of the book. In short, here Mr. Anderson seeks to answer the questions of what humans will find when they achieve interstellar travel and what this will do to mankind.
These stories are more or less arranged chronologically within the future history series. "Mirkheim" is placed at the beginning, which is appropriate as that novel heralds the end of the Polesotechnic League and the beginning of the Empire stage of Technic Civilization. In my opinion Mirkheim is one of the best Technic Civilization novels. Each of these stories stands very well alone, and these are all wonderful speculative reads. Highly recommended. RJB.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Rise of the Terran Empire: The Technic Civilization Saga (Technic Civilization Series)
Nicholas van Rijn, the most flamboyant member of the Polesotechnic League of star traders, could see dark times ahead. Fellow league members were using tactics verging on outright piracy, and others were all too eager to sell starships and high-tech weapons to alien barbarians. A planet not previously known for interstellar commerce suddenly revealed a secret fleet of armed starships, and started building an empire. Even if Van Rijn and his right-hand man David Falkayn could find a way to stop this blatant aggression, the glory days of the League were over. Hereafter, for its own protection against well-armed alien marauders the Earth must maintain a strong military fleet, and one charismatic man would found an empire that would learn nothing of the lessons history taught about the fates of other empires as it began annexing other star systems, whether they wanted to join the Terran Empire or not . . . This is the third volume in the first complete edition of Poul Anderson's Technic Civilization saga, and it includes a classic novella which appears here in book form for the first time. And the next volume begins the adventures of Poul Anderson's other legendary character, Captain Sir Dominic Flandry.
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