The Future History is a series of science fiction stories written by American author Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988). It describes a predicted future of the human race from the middle of the 20th century through the early 23rd century. The term "Future History" was introduced by John W. Campbell Jr. in the February 1941 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. Campbell published an early version of Heinlein's chart for the series in the May 1941 issue.
Heinlein wrote most of the Future History stories early in his career, between 1939 and 1941 and between 1945 and 1950. Most of the stories were collected in book form as The Past Through Tomorrow (1967), which also includes the final version of the chart. This collection does not include the 1941 novellas Universe and Common Sense; they were published together in book form as Orphans of the Sky in 1963.
Groff Conklin called the Future History "the greatest of all histories of tomorrow." It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best All-Time Series in 1966, along with the Barsoom series by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the Lensman series by E. E. Smith, the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov, and The Lord of the Rings series by J. R. R. Tolkien. It lost to Asimov's Foundation series.
Definition
The book The Past Through Tomorrow mainly includes a set of stories that are clearly part of the Future History series. However, experts who study Robert A. Heinlein usually agree that some stories not in the book are still part of the Future History series, and some stories in the book are only loosely connected to it.
James Gifford adds two stories to the Future History series: Time Enough for Love, which was published later than The Past Through Tomorrow, and "Let There Be Light," which was not included in The Past Through Tomorrow. This may have happened because the editor of the collection disliked the story or because Heinlein himself thought it was not as strong. Gifford considers Time Enough for Love to be a story that is not clearly part of the Future History series. He also believes that The Number of the Beast, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, and To Sail Beyond the Sunset are too loosely connected to the Future History series to be included.
Bill Patterson includes To Sail Beyond the Sunset in the Future History series, based on the idea that the differences between this story and others in the series can be explained by placing it in the same "group of connected timelines" within the "World as Myth" concept. However, Patterson lists several stories that he believes were never meant to be part of the Future History series, even though they were included in The Past Through Tomorrow. These include "Life-Line" (written before the Future History chart was published, but later referenced in Time Enough for Love), "The Menace from Earth," "—We Also Walk Dogs," and stories originally published in the Saturday Evening Post ("Space Jockey," "It's Great to Be Back!," "The Green Hills of Earth," and "The Black Pits of Luna"). Patterson agrees with Gifford that "Let There Be Light" should be included. The story "—And He Built a Crooked House—" was only listed in the pre-war Future History chart and not included later.
The Heinlein juvenile novels do not always follow the Future History series closely. Gifford explains that although the twelve juvenile novels are not completely different from the Future History series, they also do not fully match it for adult readers. He notes that at least one major event from the Future History chart, the revolution on Venus, was described in the juvenile novels as Between Planets. The novel Variable Star, written by Spider Robinson based on Heinlein's detailed outline, includes elements from both the Future History series (such as references to Nehemiah Scudder) and the universe of the Heinlein juveniles (like torch ships and faster-than-light telepathic communication between twins). The adult short story "The Long Watch," which is included in Future History collections, connects to Space Cadet through the character (John) Ezra Dahlquist, who is the main character of the first story and appears again in the second.
Patterson uses the "World as Myth" concept to explain differences between real history and Heinlein's imagined future, as well as inconsistencies between stories. He writes that Heinlein redefined the Future History series as a timeline (or group of connected timelines) in the "World as Myth" books. This allows the term "Future History" to describe a clear timeline while still including inconsistencies, as these differences can belong to closely related timelines.
Stories never written
The chart in the collection Revolt in 2100 includes several stories that were not written but are described in a postscript by Heinlein. One of these stories, "Fire Down Below," is about a revolution in Antarctica and would have taken place in the early 21st century. Three other unwritten stories explain events from just before "Logic of Empire" in the early 21st century through the start of "If This Goes On—." "The Sound of His Wings" describes the early life of Nehemiah Scudder as a television evangelist and his rise to power as the First Prophet. "Eclipse" explains independence movements on Mars and Venus. "The Stone Pillow" details how the resistance movement began during the early years of the religious government and continued until the start of "If This Goes On—."
These stories were important parts of Heinlein’s Future History. To help readers understand Scudder’s rule, Heinlein gave a rough description of him as a mix of John Calvin, Girolamo Savonarola, Joseph Franklin Rutherford, and Huey Long. Scudder’s rise to power began when a wealthy man’s widow, who would have opposed him, died and left him money to start a television station. He later partnered with a former senator and hired a major advertising company. His fame spread even to other planets, with many bonded laborers on Venus seeing him as a religious leader. He also had a group similar to the Ku Klux Klan. "Blood at the polls and blood in the streets, but Scudder won the election. The next election was never held." Though this time was important for the human expansion that happened hundreds of years later, Heinlein said he never wrote these stories because they focused heavily on Scudder, whom he disliked.
Nehemiah Scudder first appears in Heinlein’s earliest novel, For Us, the Living: A Comedy of Customs (written in 1938–1939, though first published in 2003). In this book, Scudder’s early career is nearly the same as described above, but with one key difference: in the earlier version, Libertarians stopped him from gaining more power, and he only won elections in Tennessee and Alabama. In fact, the Libertarian government that appears fully developed in the book’s year 2086 was created directly in response to Scudder’s attempt to enforce strict religious rules across all of American society.