this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2023
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Starship Troopers is a bit different in that most critics agree it was Heinlein describing his own thoughts on the matter, particularly because he was angry about Eisenhower's suspension of nuclear testing.
I agree you should be careful about conflating a depicted society with the author's personal beliefs though, especially for an author who has such a long career and clearly changed his views during it.
Heinlein was horrified by Soviet Communism (and he'd traveled in the Soviet Union). He believed the US nuclear program (and space program) were a necessary protection against people like Stalin and Mao taking over the world.
There's a running theme in a number of his works, of people trying to find a society and a place in it where they can live safely, where they won't be oppressed for disagreeing with that society. It shows up in Stranger in a Strange Land, in "If This Goes Onβ", in the Lazarus Long stories, etc.
I think Heinlein's militarist liberal Americanism was contextual: he saw America as a place where a weirdo like him had a chance to live in peace, and that made it worth defending.
The ending of The Puppet Masters describes a war against the aliens' world that seems taken from Starship Troopers. It seems a recurring idea for Heinlein.