An Enemy of the State

Originally written in the 1970s, in the context of stagflation, F. Paul Wilson's ENEMY OF THE STATE has renewed relevance today, with the likelihood of high price inflation hanging like a sword of Damocles over the United States thanks to the Fed's recent money-creation spree. This book is set an the future on a group of planets ruled by the Outworld Imperium, an oppressive, declining, semi-democratic empire. Wilson chronicles a small cabal's efforts to achieve a genuinely libertarian revolution. It is led by a charismatic-if-somewhat-aloof man named Peter LaNague, an adherent to a libertarian philosophy known as "Kyfho" (an acronym for "Keep Your F@#*% & *g Hands Off" -- gotta love it!) Because of his strong belief in libertarian principles, LaNague's challenge is to effect a revolution with as little violence or loss of life as possible, and to ensure that the "old boss" is not replaced with a "new boss." Instead, LaNague wants there to be "no boss." How LaNague pulls this all off is quite clever -- I won't reveal everything, but let's just say a crucial part of his strategy is turning the government's tendency towards inflation against it. To me it was quite inspiring and extremely relevant. Any libertarian-leaning scifi fan will love this book. It's clearly in the tradition of such classics as Heinlein's THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS (there's even a brief reference to that book in ENEMY, a tip of the hat by Wilson to Heinlein.) My only (minor) complaint about ENEMY OF THE STATE is its brevity -- normally I'm a big proponent of concision in books, but in this case I found myself wanting more!

Never judge a book by its cover, right? Well I did when I pulled this one off the shelf at my neighborhood paperback re-seller. I had never heard of F. Paul Wilson before but was stretching my wings in anti-state philosophy. Collapse the STATE by exposing the sand of it's foundation; faulty economic policy. LaNague is a cross between Guy Fawkes and Robin Hood! Now I am a F. Paul Wilson addict, especially his Repairman Jack series. An Enemy of the State is a friend of mine... :)

So many sci-fi novels delve into the tiniest details concerning weapons, transportation, intelligent computers, etc. while ignoring the most fundamental aspects of one of the most powerful forces in society, namely economics. Wilson manages to tell the story of a revolution centered on economics, and he doesn't "dumb down" the theory behind it. He cleverly illustrates the human effects of economic forces by sympathetically telling the stories of both the initiators of these forces and their victims. This is not a shoot-em-up type of story. All of the characters are motivated by ideology, and Wilson does a good job of humanizing even the most villainous among them while at the same time presenting a hero who is vulnerable himself to the same vices of his opponents.