"H. Beam Piper - Uller Uprising" - читать интересную книгу автора (Piper H Beam)

corruption in Four-Day Planet. These stories are about a living Terro-Human culture, not a Utopia.

It was Piper's attention to historical realism and his use of actual historical models that have
helped his work to pass the test of time and have led to his becoming the favorite of a new
generation of readers more than twenty-five years after his death.

Uller Uprising is the story of a confrontation between a human overlord and alien servants, with
an ironic twist at the end. Like most of Piper's best work, Uller Uprising is modeled after an
actual event in human history; in this case the Sepoy Mutiny (a Bengal uprising in British-held
India brought about when rumors were spread to native soldiers that cartridges being issued by the
British were coated with animal fat. The rebellion quickly spread throughout India and led to the
massacre of the British Colony at Cawn-pore.). Piper's novel is not a mere retelling of the Indian
Mutiny, but rather an analysis of an historical event applied to a similar situation in the far
future.


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Like many philosophers and social theorists before him, Piper attempted to chart the progress of
humankind; unlike most, however, he did not envision or try to create a system of ethics that
would end all of humanity's problems. The best he could offer was his model of the self-reliant
man: The man who "actually knows what has to be done and how to do it, and he's going to go right
ahead and do it, without holding a dozen conferences and round-table discussions and giving
everybody a fair and equal chance to foul things up for him."

Piper brought his own ideas and judgments about society and history into all of his work, but they
appear most clearly in his Terro-Human Future History. While not everyone will agree with Piper's
theories they give his work a bite that most popular fiction lacks. One cannot read Piper
complacently. And one can often find a wry insight sandwiched in between the blood and thunder.

Other future histories may span more centuries or better illuminate the highlights of several
decades, but until a rival is created with more historical depth and attention to detail, H. Beam
Piper's Terro-Human Future History will stand as the Bayeux Tapestry of science fiction histories.

In many ways-certainly during his lifetime-Piper was the most underrated of the John W. Campbell's
"Astounding" writers. He was probably also the most Campbellian; his self-reliant man is almost a
mirror image of Campbell's "Citizen."

Piper died a bitter man, a failure in his own mind; shortly before his death he believed he could
no longer earn a living as a writer without charity from his friends or the state.

Now he's the cornerstone of Ace Books. Had he lived long enough to finish another half dozen
books, he would have been among the sf greats of the sixties___

But maybe he does know, after all. Jerry Pournelle, who was very much influenced by Piper and in
many ways considers himself Beam's spiritual descendant-and incidently was John W. Campbell's last
major discovery-has said that sometimes, when he's gotten down a particularly good line, he can
hear the "old man" chuckle and whisper, atta boy.