Republic and Empire

Jerry Pournelle

Simon & Schuster, Incorporated, 1987 - Fiction - 416 pages

"Humans must have government. if they do not have it, they will create it. But what kind? In Volume I of the Imperial Stars series best-selling author Jerry Pournelle set out to find the answer. His reluctant conclusion: that throughout history, no matter in what form they began, all governments become empires--or are conquered by them. From Babylon, to Persia, to Rome, to the U.S.S.R.: no matter how high the founding ideals, the end is ever tyranny. Or is there possibly one form of government that can withstand the curse of power and yet be strong enough to try conclusions with imperial legions...?"--Pg. [4] of cover.

About the author

Jerry Eugene Pournelle was born in Shreveport, Louisiana on August 7, 1933. During the Korean War, he served in the U. S. Army. He received a B.S. in psychology in 1955, an M.S. in psychology in 1958, and a Ph.D. in political science in 1964 from the University of Washington. He worked for Boeing and NASA where he worked on the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions. He also advised the federal government on military matters and space exploration. He wrote science fiction and helped popularize the military science fiction genre. His first novel, Red Heroin, was published in 1969 under the pen name Wade Curtis. His other novels published under his own name included Janissaries, Starswarm, and The Mercenary. He also wrote novels with Larry Niven including Oath of Fealty, The Mote in God's Eye, Lucifer's Hammer, Inferno, Escape from Hell, and Footfall. Pournelle was widely credited as the first major author to write a published novel entirely on a computer. He wrote a witty advice columns for computer users in Byte magazine. He received the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer of 1973. He died of heart failure on September 8, 2017 at the age of 84.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Republic and Empire; Volume 2 of Imperial stars
• Author: Jerry Pournelle
• Editor: Jerry Pournelle
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster, Incorporated, 1987
• ISBN: 0671653598, 9780671653590
• Length: 416 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / Science Fiction / General