"James E. Gunn - The Burning" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gunn James E)

The Burning
 AN [e- reads ] BOOK
New York, NY
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, or mechanical,
including photocopy, recording, scanning or any information storage retrieval system, without explicit permission in
writing from the Author.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the authorтАЩs imagination or are
used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locals or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright ┬й 1956, 1969, 1972 by James E. Gunn
First e-reads publication 2002
www.e-reads.com
ISBN 0-7592-1502-2

тАЬWitches Must Burn!тАЭ was first published inAstounding Science Fiction , тАЬTrial By Fire,тАЭ inWorlds Of If , and тАЬWitch
HuntтАЭ appeared originally inGalaxy Magazine.


Table of Contents
One тАФ Witches Must Burn

Two тАФ Trial by Fire

Three тАФ Witch Hunt

Preface
The nightmare began with the House Un-American Activities Committee and Senator Joseph McCarthy.
We lived in Wisconsin for a year and a half where I had a job as a junior editor of paperback books but
left in the fall of 1952 to return to full-time writing in Kansas City, but not before we had a chance to cast
a vote against McCarthy. While we were in Wisconsin, my wife Jane went to a McCarthy campaign rally
and reported that McCarthy had a personal magnetism that made her understand how people could be
swayed by him. In 1953 we bought our first television set. In 1954, we were glued to it by the
Army-McCarthy hearings. In 1955 I began thinking about an idea for a short novel that dealt with the
American anti-intellectualism I saw as the reason for the success of HUACтАЩs and Senator McCarthyтАЩs
witch-hunts. They were acceptable because people were eager to believe that writers, film-makers,
academics, and scientists would betray their country in the name of their soft-headed ideals. Emotions
seemed heated enough to spill over into mob action.

I wanted to write about the way in which attitudes had changed toward the wise men of the community,
the sachems, the witch doctors. Once they were considered gifted with special powers that they used in
behalf of the tribe to placate or manipulate the supernatural forces and beings that controlled the world.
They were special; they were revered. But in modern times, when everybody could educate themselves
to wisdom and power over nature, people saw themselves as victims of scientific and technological
change that were being created by scientists. They believed that scientists were pursuing knowledge
without considering how it would be used and that ordinary humanity paid the price. The story I
contemplated imagined a revolution from which, eventually тАФ in two sequels that might be combined
with the first story into a novel---science would be restored to its original position as a respected member
of the tribe with a special talent for making miracles.