Anderson And Heinlein On The Past And Present

Poul Anderson described "...the past of the United States..." as:

"...that intricate, colorful, raucous pageant..."
-Poul Anderson, "The Discovery of the Past" IN Anderson, Past Times (New York, 1984), pp. 182-206 AT p. 192.

As Jeeves might say, "I would not perhaps take the liberty of describing it in quite those terms, sir." However, it is an interesting perspective.

Is sf unrealistic because important events happen quickly and:

"...are brought about by a few determined individuals."
-op. cit., p. 199?

Anderson shows that American history is like that:

from the Declaration of Independence to the annexation of 1848 (see here) was 72 years, a single lifetime;

Anderson's mother was alive for Kitty Hawk and the first manned Moon landing, 66 years apart;

steam engines, cotton gins, combine harvesters, railways, telegraph, telephones, electric lights, automobiles, aircraft and atomic power came quickly and with identifiable originators.

Since we are still living in that same history, it is appropriate to quote Robert Heinlein, especially since this passage could just as easily have been written by Poul Anderson:

"The anomalies of the Power Age are more curious than its wonders.
"But it is a great and wonderful age, the most wonderful this giddy planet has yet seen. It is sometimes comic, too often tragic, and always wonderful. Our wildest dreams of the future will be surpassed by what lies in front of us. Come bad, come good, I want to take part in the show as long as possible.
"Robert A. Heinlein."
-Robert Heinlein, The Man Who Sold The Moon (London, 1963), Preface, p. 10.

(But let's try to prevent some of the "bad," not just let it come.)

At the effective end of the Future History, Lazarus Long proves that sometimes a character's views are those of his author:

"'...here's one monkey that's going to keep on climbing, and looking around him to see what he can see, as long as the tree holds out.'"
-Robert Heinlein, Methuselah's Children (London, 1966), p. 191.

In terms of up-to-date American contemporary fiction, I am also reading The Whistler by John Grisham.