Taras Wolansky Letter

Dear Bill:

S. M. Stirling would probably be amused to learn William H. Stoddard is touting his Under the Yoke for the Prometheus. Stirling has described himself as “a card-carrying Conservative- Burkean, Bismarckian variety, a corporatist, bishop—and—king conservative.” (“In the U.S.”, he explains, “so-called conservatives are actually warmed-over 19th-century liberals.”")

Evidence of a very far from libertarian viewpoint can easily be found in his first Draka novel, Marching Through Georgia. Stirling thinks Draka society, though evil, would be successful; that in spite of economic centralization and severe restrictions on education (to say the least) it could compete on equal terms with the free world, technologically and militarily. He has said he believes the replacement of caste societies by meritocratic ones is nothing more than a historical accident.

If you’re interested in more info about all the things wrong with the Draka universe, see my review in Lan’s Lantern #27, and Stirling’s rebuttal and my response in LL #32.

I am sorry to hear the series is degenerating into “Normanism”. The first book was reasonably well-written.

-- Taras Wolansky