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Sixth Column (novel): Difference between revisions
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{{work}}
{{Infobox book
[[File:Sixth column.jpg|frame]]▼
| title = Sixth Column
| original title = The Day After Tomorrow
| caption =
| author = Robert A. Heinlein
| central theme =
| elevator pitch = After an invasion of the USA, the last remaining army unit uses pseudo-science to fight back.
| genre =
| publication date = January, February, March 1941
| source page exists =
| wiki URL =
| wiki name =
}}
{{quote|''Does ''anyone'' have a kind word to say for "[[Sixth Column (novel)|Sixth Column]]" or "[[Farnham's Freehold]]"? I'll try: 6thC was written to an outline supplied by famously racist editor [[John W. Campbell]], at a point when [[Robert A. Heinlein|Heinlein]] needed the money, and he is alleged to have watered down the racism as far as he could''|[[Charles Stross]], [http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2013/07/crib-sheet-saturns-children.html Crib Sheet: Saturn's Children]}}
{{quote|''There is no such thing as a humane war.''}}
'''''Sixth Column''''', also known under the title ''The Day After Tomorrow'', is a [[science fiction]] novel by [[Robert A. Heinlein]] using the [[pen name]] Anson MacDonald, based on a story by editor [[John W. Campbell]], and set in a [[United States]] that has been conquered by the PanAsians, a combination of Chinese and Japanese. Originally published as a serial in ''[[Analog|Astounding Science Fiction]]'' (January, February, March 1941, using the [[pen name]] Anson MacDonald) it was published in hardcover in 1949.
On the [[Mohs Scale of Science Fiction Hardness]], this is "Really soft SF" - the "science" barely made sense for when the story was written, and (as always) [[Science Marches On]].
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* [[A God Am I]]: All of the main characters have near-omnipotence thanks to their weapons, but Calhoun is the one who eventually goes crazy about it and actually thinks he's a divine in their scam religion.
* [[Hobos]]: A hobo character who stumbled upon the military base is a major character. The hobo used to be a graduate student who decided to research the hobo lifestyle. He discovered he liked it and gave up being a student to be a hobo. He also points out to the protagonist that hobos are not [[The Tramp|tramps]] or bums, and in fact lays out an entire social taxonomy of American transients, with [[Bindle Stick|bindlestiffs]] at the bottom and true hobos at the top.
* [[Old Shame]] / [[I Was Young and Needed the Money]]: This was a rewrite by Heinlein of an unpublished (and, at least according to some sources, ''unpublishable'') story called ''All'' originally written by editor [[John W. Campbell]], who farmed it out to Heinlein; Heinlein later recalled that he had had to dramatically rewrite it to purge it of unashamed and overt racism, and that he did not "consider it to be an artistic success".
* [[Pig Latin]]: Used as a code, under the theory that non-native speakers wouldn't be able to understand it.
* [[Reverse Polarity]]: The book's [[Unfortunate Implications|race-specific]] [[Death Ray]] has two kinds of Reverse Polarity. The first way turns it in to a [[Liquid Assets|health-ray]] ([[MST3K Mantra|don't think too hard about that]]), and the second way lets you use it on non-Asians. (Strictly speaking, it's not the toggle that "Reverse Polarity" implies, but a more like tuning a radio. But once the settings are found, the change in function is made as simple as a button push.)
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