According to Heinlein, his desire to write Starship Troopers was sparked by the publication of a newspaper advertisement placed by the National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy on April 5, 1958 calling for a unilateral suspension of nuclear weapon testing by the United States. In response, Robert and Virginia Heinlein created the small "Patrick Henry League" in an attempt to create support for the U.S. nuclear testing program. Heinlein found himself under attack both from within and outside the science fiction community for his views. Heinlein used the novel to clarify and defend his military and political views at the time."
And THIS is why they precisely picked Paul Verhoeven to direct that movie. To take a pro war message, isolate it, mock it, twist it, and claim that steaming pile of crap as their own. THIS is how most people now think of Starship Troopers, not the book...
History is not written by those that win wars...
History is written by those that win the war for the history department.
This is why the critics were fooled: the source material was “notoriously” “right-wing,” so they were expecting “right-wing,” and found it. The “problem” was that movie critics tend to at least have some familiarity with literature, having been English majors, themselves. It took the sociology majors, completely ignorant in literature, to “understand” the movie.
That said, given Voehrhoven’s corpus, I find it difficult to reject the notion that he was mocking Heinlein’s work; it was a movie designed to invite MST3K fans to make fun of as they watched it.
I like Robert Forward’s free market vision of space as well.
There is something refreshing about reading about explorers getting paid big bucks for taking the big risks and looking for commercial viability.
Forward was a physicist and free marketeer. The space centric company he co founded exists today.
http://www.tethers.com/index.html