© 1980 by F. Paul Wilson
In searching for the paramount adjective to describe this book, a lot of words flashed through my mind: strange, odd, unusual, niche, allegoric, economic. It’s that last word that’s demanding to be heard, pushing and shoving its way to the front of the line. Okay. The book is best described as “economic” but not in the sense of “efficient” or “concise”. This is a science fiction novel that has “economics” at its core.
Now, if you’re like me, chances are your eyes glazed over at that last sentence. Economics has been famously defined as “the dismal science,” but to me it will always be known as “the boring sorta-science-y thing.” Which is a shame, because the topic of its study affects us all on great and small levels, every single day. We’re all woefully ignorant of economics, myself included.
But I must admit I liked it. Particularly because I liked the setting, the characters, and the philosophy by which the protagonist, Peter LaNague, lives. Because although LaNague chooses to wage his David-versus-Goliath war economically, it is his personal philosophy which plays a shaping role in the way the story plays out.
We open a couple of centuries in the future. Man has left Earth and settled other worlds; Earth became Empire; Outerworlds rebelled and gained freedom. Now, the uniting government of these outer worlds has grown to a massive bureaucracy that’s taxing the member planets to death – both economically and, as the novel argues, by the restrictions of freedom which inevitably arise through economic dominance.
One man, Peter LaNague, has dedicated his life to the overthrow of this suffocating soft dictatorship. But he’s different from 99.9 percent of all the revolutionaries who have ever walked the earth (or those that will walk other planets in the future). He adheres to the philosophy of Kyfho. If you don’t know what “kyfho” stands for, google it. At its core it’s a philosophy either directly descended from libertarianism or a close cousin to it. There are differing strains of Kyfho, depending on how one chooses to react when Kyfho is violated.
Anyway, LaNague chooses to attack the “Imperium” economically. He comes across as a bizarre composite of between Mohandas Gandhi and – I hate to say it – George Soros. LaNague models himself after Robin Hood, and begins hijacking tax caravans heading to the Imperium’s home city, and dropping it from the skies down on the general populace. His people steal the special paper the currency is printed on and release flyers educating the people and noting significant statistics: price index, money supply, and unemployment rate. And he’s always one step ahead of his foes, despite a strict policy of non-violence which, unfortunately, compels him not to take action against a maniac wanna-be revolutionary right in his midst.
The weirdest thing about An Enemy of the State is how accurately it’s mirroring what the US is going through right now. Every move the Imperium makes, our government seems to be making. The last third of the book details what happens on the ground level when hyperinflation destroys a currency and unemployment sweeps over the land like a tidal wave – and it’s not a pretty picture. These chapters were quite hard to get through, fearful as I am that this is where we as a nation are heading.
I liked it. B-plus.
In searching for the paramount adjective to describe this book, a lot of words flashed through my mind: strange, odd, unusual, niche, allegoric, economic. It’s that last word that’s demanding to be heard, pushing and shoving its way to the front of the line. Okay. The book is best described as “economic” but not in the sense of “efficient” or “concise”. This is a science fiction novel that has “economics” at its core.
Now, if you’re like me, chances are your eyes glazed over at that last sentence. Economics has been famously defined as “the dismal science,” but to me it will always be known as “the boring sorta-science-y thing.” Which is a shame, because the topic of its study affects us all on great and small levels, every single day. We’re all woefully ignorant of economics, myself included.
But I must admit I liked it. Particularly because I liked the setting, the characters, and the philosophy by which the protagonist, Peter LaNague, lives. Because although LaNague chooses to wage his David-versus-Goliath war economically, it is his personal philosophy which plays a shaping role in the way the story plays out.
We open a couple of centuries in the future. Man has left Earth and settled other worlds; Earth became Empire; Outerworlds rebelled and gained freedom. Now, the uniting government of these outer worlds has grown to a massive bureaucracy that’s taxing the member planets to death – both economically and, as the novel argues, by the restrictions of freedom which inevitably arise through economic dominance.
One man, Peter LaNague, has dedicated his life to the overthrow of this suffocating soft dictatorship. But he’s different from 99.9 percent of all the revolutionaries who have ever walked the earth (or those that will walk other planets in the future). He adheres to the philosophy of Kyfho. If you don’t know what “kyfho” stands for, google it. At its core it’s a philosophy either directly descended from libertarianism or a close cousin to it. There are differing strains of Kyfho, depending on how one chooses to react when Kyfho is violated.
Anyway, LaNague chooses to attack the “Imperium” economically. He comes across as a bizarre composite of between Mohandas Gandhi and – I hate to say it – George Soros. LaNague models himself after Robin Hood, and begins hijacking tax caravans heading to the Imperium’s home city, and dropping it from the skies down on the general populace. His people steal the special paper the currency is printed on and release flyers educating the people and noting significant statistics: price index, money supply, and unemployment rate. And he’s always one step ahead of his foes, despite a strict policy of non-violence which, unfortunately, compels him not to take action against a maniac wanna-be revolutionary right in his midst.
The weirdest thing about An Enemy of the State is how accurately it’s mirroring what the US is going through right now. Every move the Imperium makes, our government seems to be making. The last third of the book details what happens on the ground level when hyperinflation destroys a currency and unemployment sweeps over the land like a tidal wave – and it’s not a pretty picture. These chapters were quite hard to get through, fearful as I am that this is where we as a nation are heading.
I liked it. B-plus.
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