Black Man's Burden

Reynolds, Mack, 1917-1983Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.2

Word count: 230K words
Chapters: 24

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Black Man's Burden by Mack ReynoldsAuthor: Reynolds, Mack, 1917-1983,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: May 15, 2010

Editor's review

This work is a short science fiction novel by Mack Reynolds that projects racial issues onto a future social structure. Its value lies not in offering answers but in turning prejudice, identity, and power relations into discussable plot devices through genre fiction. For today's readers, it is both a sample of late Cold War American science fiction's engagement with social problems and a mirror for our own mental habits. While reading, notice how the author advances ideological conflict through dialogue and scene rather than complex worldbuilding. It suits a commute or a short sitting, with a little time afterward to savor the irony of the title. A caveat: the work carries the language habits and limited perspectives of its era; read it historically and do not equate its premises with the author's views.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in the intersection of twentieth-century American science fiction and social issues
Self-learners who want short science fiction as English extensive reading material
Discussants concerned with race and identity who are willing to read historical texts
Teachers who need supplementary classroom reading to guide critical reading

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting hard SF technical worldbuilding or grand space battles
Readers sensitive to the language habits and limited perspectives of older eras
Readers who need a full-length narrative and complex character arcs

Reading tips

Read through once for the plot, then revisit the title and key dialogue to sense the satirical target.
Jot down expressions that unsettle or surprise you as entry points for later discussion.
Pair it with a contemporaneous American SF short story to compare how issues are handled.
English learners can read the original e-text first, then use notes to sort out unfamiliar words and period usage.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a novel or a short story?

Judging by its length and its form in Project Gutenberg, it is a short work of science fiction, suitable for reading in one or two sittings. Exact page counts vary with e-book formatting, so rely on the version you download.

What does burden in the title refer to?

The title plays on an existing English-language notion of a "burden," and the author uses the SF premise to invert or redistribute it and create ideological conflict. Its specific reference should be understood through the characters' situations in the plot rather than concluded directly apart from the text.

Do the views in the book represent the author's position?

The novel presents ideas through character dialogue and plot development; what characters say is not necessarily the author's view. Readers should distinguish narrator, characters, and author, and judge in light of the social context of the work's era.

Is it suitable as English learning material?

It is short and dialogue-heavy, making it suitable for extensive reading. But the text has mid-twentieth-century usage habits, and some expressions are uncommon today; use a dictionary and pay attention to context rather than parsing every word.

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About the author

Reynolds, Mack, 1917-1983 Author

Mack Reynolds (1917–1983) was an American science fiction writer, born Dallas McCord Reynolds. Because public information is limited, no speculation is made here about his early life or education. The collection holds twenty-five of his works, including I’m a Stranger Here Myself, The Common Man, Happy Ending, Dogfight—1973, Black Man’s Burden, Off Course, Summit, and Ultima Thule. These titles suggest that he excelled at short stories and novellas, often addressing social issues, race relations, political conflict, and future warfare. His titles are frequently blunt and ironic, his narratives tight, and he makes effective use of suspense and reversal to discuss real-world problems within the framework of popular science fiction. His work appeared mainly in mid-twentieth-century science fiction magazines and has had some influence on later socially engaged science fiction.