Notes from a panel at Capricon 44, Chicago, Feb. 2, 2024. Any mistakes are mine. The panelists are not responsible for any errors here.

Shaun Duke, Jerry Gilio, Bill Higgins, Benjamin Wallin, Gary K Wolfe (moderator)

Since its release in 1974, Joe Haldeman’s Hugo and Nebula Award winning novel The Forever War has been assigned in college classes and hailed as a profound exploration of the dehumanizing effects of war. Now on its 50th anniversary, our panelists look back on the novel’s release, its impact, and its relevance today.

• Because of time dilation, the space soldiers return to a much-changed Earth, where 27 years have passed while they only experienced 2. The veterans do not fit in and are very alienated from a greatly changed Earth. So many of them, including the protagonist, re-enlist. The same problem happens again with every tour of duty. After a while the generation gaps cannot be bridged.
• Homosexuality is a major theme. Recall that the story was written in 1974.
• Haldeman had not read Heinlein’s Starship Troopers when he wrote The Forever War, although the stories are frequently compared. He was influenced by Catch-22
• Haldeman served in Viet Nam. It shows.
• The story could not be written today, because in the U.S.A. there is no military draft at present.
• Very much an antiwar novel. In the spirit of All Quiet on the Western Front and Slaughterhouse-Five.