Farnham's Freehold

By: Robert A. Heinlein

Narrated by: Tom Weiner

Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

Hugh Farnham is a practical, self-made man, and when he sees the clouds of nuclear war gathering, he builds a bomb shelter under his house, hoping for peace and preparing for war. But when the apocalypse comes, something happens that he did not expect. A thermonuclear blast tears apart the fabric of time and hurls his shelter into a world with no sign of other human beings.

Farnham and his family have barely settled down to the backbreaking business of low-tech survival when they find that they are not alone after all. The same nuclear war that catapaulted Farnham 2,000 years into the future has destroyed all civilization in the northern hemisphere, leaving Africans as the dominant surviving people.

In the new world order, Farnham and his family, being members of the race that nearly destroyed the world, are fit only to be slaves. After surviving a nuclear war, Farnham has no intention of being anyone’s slave, but the tyrannical power of the Chosen race reaches throughout the world. Even if he manages to escape, where can he run to?

©1964 Robert A. Heinlein, 1992 by Mrs. Virginia Heinlein (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Heinlein’s story is as engrossing now as it was in its original form decades ago.” ( Midwest Book Review)

Loved this Audiobook!

I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook. The narrator held my interest. This was the first I had heard by this author and really enjoyed the storyline!

Heinlein takes some getting used to.

Heinlein takes some getting used to. His books are somewhat dated, and they contain racism and sexism and other potentially offensive viewpoints, but the story itself is interesting and the narration of the audiobook is well done. If I had to do it over again, I'd skip this one.

Read it twice

Excellent story. Has it all: time travel, family drama, slavery, freedom, love, violence . . . Explores the height and depth of human existence.

Futuristic story of reverse-racism

This book has some notoriety among Heinlein's legions of critics for being a "reverse racism" story in which a group of white people (and their one black house-servant) are blasted thousands of years forward in time by a nuclear war, and find themselves in a future ruled by black overlords, served by an underclass of subservient whites.

Farnham's Freehold is actually not that bad, nor is the narrative message as ham-fisted as I expected; Heinlein was a progressive for his time, and notwithstanding all those people who claim he was a libertarian, less plausibly, a "right-winger," or absurdly, a fascist, he was clearly trying to make a positive statement about freedom, self-determinaton, and racial coexistence. The story is more complex than some of the more inflammatory reviews give it credit for — most of the characters, white and black, are decent by their own standards but flawed in various ways, and no one is made out to be inherently better or villainous by virtue of their race.

That said, it's understandable that a novel written in 1964 about blacks imposing chattel slavery and racial supremacy over whites — and literally ranching them for food — might be seen as a somewhat less than elevating contribution to the genre today.

As a story, this was okay, but not one of Heinlein's best (though certainly not his worst either). Hugh Farnham is a typical Heinleinian omni-capable Everyman, aided and assisted by a typical Heinleinian woman (hot, willing, smart and capable but knows her place and likes it) as they try to escape from the dystopian nightmare they have found themselves in. Actually, as dystopias go, none of the characters in the book are treated particularly badly, a point made repeatedly by their "Charity"/master, and refuted effectively by Farnham when he points out what the "King's Charity" really means. Like most Heinlein novels, there is food for thought here, and a decent amount of adventure, and a lot of nubile fourteen-year-old sex slaves (who the main character of course is too noble to take advantage of).

Interesting but dated, and not what I would recommend to someone new to Heinlein, but if you like his other, better works, Farnham's Freehold will probably entertain you.

A Product of its Time

What did you like best about Farnham's Freehold? What did you like least?

I bought this expecting a realistic account of a man transplanted into a wilderness and his struggle to survive. The book partly delivered that, but I could never get over the conservative values and extreme misogyny continuously trumpeted throughout the book. The hero is an arch man's man and placed in a conservative's wet dream where he must survive by his own strength and wits while commanding those around him with a stern hand. We have two liberal straw men on display in the form of the protaginist's son and wife, the former an atheist fop who eventually comes around to the idea of faith and the latter a social lush who cannot handle reality and craves only her own comfort. Only the main character Hugh has any good solutions to any problems, but he is such a detestable asshole about it, I could never support him. All of the women in this book are weak, emotional children, and entirely dependent on men for any real sort of task and serve only supporting roles. I imagine the likes of Rush Limbagh and Glen Beck would love this sort of tale and find its message entirely appropriate and relevant to today's audience. The only excuse I can give it is that it was written in the 1960's and probably reflected the morality of the times. In fact it has something of an "anti-racist" message. At least I think the book thinks it does. The main character claims not to judge men by their skin color, but then we still see a future ruled by dark skinned cannibals following the extinction of the northern hemisphere. But even if Hugh does not judge a man by his skin color he will judge a person by their gender and has little respect for concepts like equality or democracy or egalitarianism. I guess if you're a die hard conservative, you'll have fun stroking it while listening. For everyone else I can only recommend it as a curiosity

Classic but dated

This story impressed me much more when I read it the first time- in the 60's. Unfortunately Heinlein comes across as a little pompous and preachy now.

Classic, entertaining SF!

Interesting concepts...classic Heinlein....how did he do it 50 years ago? Heinlein is the man. Nice.

time traveling pioneers meet the naked jungle

Purchased this on the discount and now understand why it was so cheap. I'm trying to give Heinlein the benefit of doubt that he was attempting to make a statement about racism in this future earth by poking at just about every racial stereotype in an over-the-top fashion, but the best praise I can give it is that his well documented narcissism got in the way of that message. It starts off as a familiar sci-fi pioneer survivor type of story by H, then diverges into an inside-view of slavery in a future world dominated by survivors from when the northern hemisphere is destroyed.

Heinlein at his disturbing best....

If you could sum up Farnham's Freehold in three words, what would they be?

scary, disgusting, true

What was one of the most memorable moments of Farnham's Freehold?

When Farnham and Barbara returned to their starting point just before the bombing.

Have you listened to any of Tom Weiner’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Don't know but this was very well done. I listen to hear the separate characters and how well they stay in character and how well the reader maintains that throughout the book. Weiner delivered.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

A film of brutal reality and insight into the human condition..twisting and turning through a maze of contradictions and paradox.

Any additional comments?

RAH is still the king of sci fi

An Incredible Foray Into Post Apocalyptic Slavery . . . 😱

5 stars Great.
4 Stars Good.
3 Stars OK.
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I grew up devouring Heinlein but I don't remember this book. It is a fairly serious look at the Cold War MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) bomb shelter era mixed in with a sobering look at the import of slavery in a Dystopian world. Sound confusing? It is. But it is generally pulled off in an entertaining mostly believable tale of the Farnham family's trials and tribulations.
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Recommended strongly for anyone who is a Heinlein follower and fan. ........................ 😱