The Holy Land

Zubrin has come up with a great satire here. The story keeps readers alert and had me laughing out loud. And it makes the point that the majority of people who have much to say about the Arab-Israeli war or about terrorism show little genuine concern for human rights.

This wonderful book is a tour de force, in its startling accurate protrayel of the truth behind the conflict in the middle east. Here we are able to divest ourselves from the emotions sourounding the conflict by changing the names to protect the innocent and there bye we see how the conflict truly works. We see the truth behind the kinnewikans and how their 'brother' earthlings forced them into squalor and then conspired to make it seem like they were the victims when the truth is that the entire earth waged a fascist war against the Minervans only to be beaten back time and again, and yet in the end we see how propoganda and lies are able to twist the truth so that the true victims, the Minervans, become the oppressors, in the eyes of the media and the actual baby killers, the terrorists, are called heroes and 'human rights activists'. This book is so amazing that its actually true and it will make you shudder when you realize such injustice takes place daily in the press and the news and how events and history is twisted by lies and propoganda so that people no longer see the truth. A wonderful book, a must read.Seth J. Frantzman

Robert Zubrin's new book, "The Holy Land", satirizes the conflict in the Middle East, specifically the troubles between Israel and the Palestinians.How, one would think, can a person make fun of this particularly sensitive subject? Zubrin succeeds by turning it into a darkly humorous science fiction tale of an alien race who settle in the town of Kennewick, Washington, stating that this is their promised land and theirs by right because it is written in their holy scriptures.The US administration is understandably perturbed by these events, and led by a crusading fanatical Christian President, go to extraordinary lengths to have the plight of the displaced Kennewickian residents brought to the attention of the Galactic media, while also plotting their own gains from the situation.Zubrin has created a story which can switch from amusement to disbelief to shock and back again in a single page. He parallels the methods and events which have so defined the Israeli/Palestinian conflict to degrees which even in the satirical world could be considered disturbing, but somehow manages to keep the reader at a safe distance, mirroring the sanitization of such horrors as suicide bombings which today's media have learned to do so well.This distancing of the reader to the events is achieved in Zubrin's style of writing. I am, in this respect, reminded particularly of The Crystal World by J.G. Ballard, a story which was so fantastic, and yet written with a childlike simplicity which made the abnormal seem normal and didn't allow the reader to pause and think enough to stop believing in it. Zubrin gets the same results - his Ballard-like storytelling sets the pace and "The Holy Land" plays out like a well oiled machine.I am also reminded of a satirical television mini-series from the U.K back in the early 80's, called "Whoops! Apocalypse". The storyline was ridiculous, the acting was over the top, but somehow you could imagine that things could really be that way - the insanity of crazed politicians and an over zealous military steaming full ahead with utter righteous conviction towards annihilation."The Holy Land" takes satire to a new extreme, giving the reader the opportunity to be both amused and horrified, turning the tables on a far away conflict and bringing it close to home, not just physically, but socially and psychologically as well, at times begging the question "is this really how things are?". The story is sufficiently different to be fiction, sufficiently the same to hit home.Congratulations Mr. Zubrin, you stepped over the line in the sand and drew another one for everyone else to try and cross.

Bravo to Robert Zubrin for forcing us to see the world through alien eyes. In "The Holy Land", Zubrin gives us a brilliant parody on the war on terror by placing Americans in the role of religious suicidal extremists - a role we seem more apt to fulfill everyday - and the Western Galactic Empire in the role of benign but stupidly arrogant peacemaker.There are parallels here to almost every aspect of our modern political world. The book pivots a zealous American President against a small group of space refugees (the Minervans) who have made a home for themselves in the Washington town of Kennewick. The religious war to expel these relatively peaceful "pagans" attracts the attention of the hugely powerful but inept Western Galactic Empire after Christian suicidal bombers, in a bid to get the galaxy's attention, destroys one of the empire's inhabited planets. The WGE, or Weegees as they are called, are unwilling to offend either side (mostly because they need to keep up their lucrative trade in "helicity" that was discovered under the soil of the United States,) and this just causes the bloodbath to get worse.Caught in the middle is the story of POW sergeant Andrew Hamilton and his beautiful Minervian captor Aurora. Their growing admiration and respect for each other takes the book into some hilarious situations; Earthlings stink so horribly to Minervians and their minds are so chaotic that the idea of loving such a "savage" is repugnant. Aurora, however, can't help but fall for this proud, if primitive, soldier who tries so hard to prove to her that he is a "human being"."The Holy Land" is a satirical masterpiece, a funny romp that uses science fiction to get it's points across while never ceasing to entertain us with lovable characters, despicable villains, and a compelling story of galactic war.At times the book makes its readers teary-eyed with laughter, other times frustrated with the outrageous behavior of humans and aliens alike - it is in this frustration when Zubrin's brilliance most clearly shines, for we are forced to see the ridiculousness of our own world situation. What "Dr. Strangelove" was to the cold war, "The Holy Land" is to the war on terror and the clash of civilizations.

The space wandering Miniervans claim that Kennewick, Washington is their ancestral holy land that they still own. They hope to finally live in peace after a galactic empire tried to exterminate them. Instead of finding a land of milk and honey, the American government begins a campaign to kick the Miniervans off the continent partly because the "outsiders" behave with an attitude of superiority and racism towards others.The ensuing war fails to evict the Miniervans from their new home. Frustrated the Fundamentalists running the American government force the dislocated Kennewickians into squalid camps where the young are trained in guerilla tactics and hatred towards the usurpers. The other galactic races are appalled by the constant deaths of the Kennewickians at the hands of the technological superior Minervans though the latter merely defend themselves from suicide assaults encouraged by the US government. The superpower the Western Galactic Empire demands human rights for the displaced. That changes when helicity is discovered on earth as that valuable resource is more important than an individual's dignity.THE HOLY LAND is a powerful science fiction political satire that relocates the players in the Arab-Israeli dispute inside a galaxy filled with plenty of nations and one superpower. The story line cleverly rips all sides in the real world maelstrom though the Miniervans come off a bit less shredded. Fans who appreciate a strong lampoon of the inanity of the United States, Israel, Palestine, and the other Arab nations for what they have done to people in the invoking of an ism (ideologically stupid morons) will enjoy this tale that feels like Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal placed in a future context.Harriet Klausner