A Man To My Wounding II

Poul Anderson, "A Man To My Wounding" IN Anderson, Conflict (New York, August 1983), pp. 187-209.

See also:

A Man To My Wounding.

Robert Crane's Solution

The opening phrase is also a Biblical reference:

"His names were legion..." (p. 187)

Here is another story where war has become too destructive so alternative forms of violence have had to be found. In an inept narrative device, particularly for Anderson, the first person narrator, apparently an assassin waiting to make a hit although we will have to read on to be sure of what is happening, listens to a broadcast address by a University president which explains the background.

This speaker summarizes some military history:

limited conflicts between the Peace of Westphalia and the French Revolution;

relative chivalry in the post-Napoleonic nineteenth century;

trench warfare in WWI;

indiscriminate aerial bombardments in WWII;

atomic WWIII;

current assassinations of political leaders.

There are Libertarian and Enterprise political parties. This story is extremely condensed and is getting to be too much for this late at night but we have made a start.