A review by chan_fry
Sixth Column by Robert A. Heinlein

2.0

I first read this 25 or so years ago and it smacked of racism to me even before I truly understood racism. Now, it's unpalatable and absurd. I did notice the parts Heinlein shoehorned in to make it not quite as bad (like Finny’s statements, or the inclusion of an Asian American character on the “good guy” side), but these did nothing to erase the premise of the book, which rests on white supremacist ideology. The entire plot rests on “science that [Asian] culture can’t match” (next-to-last page) and “the superiority of western culture” (page 16 in my copy).

If one can ignore all that, and the pseudoscience of the superweapons, the writing isn’t bad — the story is tight and fast-paced.

(I published a longer review on my website.)