Paradise (1989)

Resnick's [Birthright: The Book of Man] is an old favorite of mine, painting a picture of how today's politics might play out over the span of a Galactic Empire. Paradise is nominally set in the same universe and has a similar tale to tell. Humans colonize an alien world and the tribal natives never adapt to the institutes of man that they are forced to fit themselves in to, like laws and currency. The planet quickly degrades into chaos and disorder as the ecosystems and economies fail. The nice thing about the story is the way it is written, from the perspective of a writer collecting information for a series of books over his lifetime. It is a fine story in the end, but depressing, like Birthright. Every resident that the author, or should I say narrator, interviews pines for the Paradise of the previous generation, back when things were better than what the person lived through. The connectedness with the Birthright universe is very minimal, almost to the point of name-dropping and nothing more. One of those books that doesn't really offer a solution to the crises presented through the story other than Man screws up every system that he interferes with. Resnick, according to the book jacket, owns the largest dog grooming kennel in the US. I think this illustrates the point that he has more hope for dogs as a species than people, which might have some merits. ( )

A colonisation story. The Republic of Man move in on a primitive planet and the same exploitation, culture shock and destruction of wildlife happens, much as it had in Africa. Along with uprisings. When the humans withdraw rapidly the locals have to deal with the rapid progress. A human biographer is asked to write a book about their first president and war hero. Then return after he has died to see another in a short succession of rulers.

http://freesf.strandedinoz.com/wordpress/2012/03/paradise-mike-resnick/ ( )

Very original tale of history on colonized planet similar to Africa. Everyone thinks Paradise is something different but it was never paradise. ( )