The Hugo Winners: Volume Three

The work that I read from this collection was "The Word for World is Forest" by Ursula K. Le Guin. And what a work it is, varying from gut-punch to joy and back again. I've heard about this story of hers for years and something always held me back from reading it. Now I know.

Written in the early

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70's when Vietnam was still at its height, the story begins with on a planet colonized by Earth-based humans. In this future dystopia, there are no more trees left on Earth and a colony has been established on New Tahiti or World 41 or Haimish. The humans in their outposts have made servants of the Atheans, the native humanoid species, despite their slowness and because of their passivity.

Davidson, one of those authoritarian military types, simply does not understand why these furry sub-humans are seen as valuable by the Terran and Intergalactic Councils. There are instances of unprovoked attack that are reminiscent of the worst atrocities during the Vietnam War and it was heart-wrenching to read them. Also brought forward is the culture of the Athsheans by the Terran Captain Lyubov who has befriended and saved Selver, though he could not save Selver's wife.

Drawing on her background in anthropology, Ms. Le Guin has created a difficult though beautiful work of writing in the science fiction genre that could as easily be written about Earth and any human species at any time in our history.

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