The Way The Future Was by Frederik Pohl

[james_davis_nicoll]

The good natured autobiography of an amiable SF author.

The Way The Future Was by Frederik Pohl

Comments

[patrick_morris_miller]

He couldn’t eat with the black gang, because he was a civilian.

Was 'a civilian' supposed to be 'white'?

[rezendi]

I am frustrated by my inability to impulse-buy this in ebook format.

[(Anonymous)]

I served on American ships far more recently than WWII, and we had several civilians aboard who ate with the officers in the wardroom. I don't know if it's a time-moves-on thing or if it's a British-are-classist thing. The US Navy probably is the most classist remaining element of American society, where Navy officers expect lordly treatment far more than the officers in the other branches, to my observation.

(I bet the civilians wouldn't have been allowed to eat in the Chief's Mess though.)

--
Nathan H.

[sturgeonslawyer]

While I (as a USAn) appreciate and approve the sentiment of your now-oft-repeated "America delenda est," I suggest changing it to "USA delenda est;" otherwise, you seem to be asking a supervolcano or Chixculub meteor to wipe out an entire hemisphere...

[dragoness_e]

Huh. When I was in the U.S. Navy, civilian technical advisors were treated as officers, and ate in the officer's mess. Maybe the British Navy had different rules.

[chrysostom]

Pohl's blog said that he was working on a second volume of TWTFW, as well as an expanded version of the first part. I really wish he'd gotten to finish them.

[chrysostom]

It must be said that Pohl's FIFTH marriage lasted quite a long time.

[duskpeterson]

This was a formative book for me as a writer in my teens. I remember how excited I was when I discovered his blog, decades later.