State of Fear
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| Author | Michael Crichton |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Sci-Fi, Techno-thriller, Dystopian novel |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
| Released | December 7, 2004 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover, Paperback) |
| Pages | 640 pp (first edition, hardback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-00-718159-0 (first edition, hardback) |
State of Fear is a 2004 novel by Michael Crichton published by HarperCollins on December 7, 2004. Like most of his novels it is a techno-thriller, this time concerning eco-terrorists who threaten the Earth. The book contains many graphs and footnotes as well as two appendices and a twenty page bibliography.
Crichton included a statement of his own views on global climate change at the end of the book, affirming that the world is heating up partly caused by men, but argues, that the harms of this change are unknown. He warns both sides of the global warming debate against the politicisation of science. He provides an example of the disastrous combination of pseudo-science and good intentions, in the early 20th-century idea of eugenics. He finishes by endorsing the preservation of wilderness and the continuation of research into all aspects of the Earth's environment.
The novel had an initial print run of 1.5 million copies and reached the #1 bestseller position at amazon.com.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The novel takes place in 2004. The protagonist is an environmentalist lawyer named Peter Evans. Throughout the novel, Evans' views concerning the facts surrounding global warming are frequently challenged by other characters as he repeatedly thwarts terrorist activities initiated by a radical environmentalist group.
The title of the novel comes from the allegations that the political, legal, and media systems deliberately induce a state of unreasonable fear in the general population to keep themselves in power.
[edit] Major themes
Crichton's second and, arguably, more important theme has been lost in the discussion of the book's contrarian view of global warming. Late in the novel, a minor character introduces the ideas that modern governments, media and fundraising organizations use fear to control the opinions of their citizenry and therefore earn votes, ratings and donations respectively. According to this viewpoint, the current discussion of global warming is simply the latest in a chain of unscientifically verified threats including diseases caused by silicone breast implants and the threat of cancer from power lines. This is the State of Fear alluded to by the novel's title. The character attributes this effect to the interplay among political actors, attorneys, and the media, all of whom are said to engender fear in the general populace to their own advantage. Crichton juxtaposes the irrational "State of Fear" to a rational cost-benefit analysis. As examples he points out that DDT was effectively banned as an unproven carcinogen yet its replacement caused the deaths of both chemical handlers and millions of third-world people killed by malaria because the replacement was more toxic to humans and less effective against mosquitoes. Another example was the banning of low cost refrigerants such as Freon-12. In that case, the fear was the destruction of the ozone but the millions who starved due to spoiled food were never accounted for.
[edit] Locations
Many of the events in Crichton's earlier novels have stayed within fairly defined areas. Such locations have varied greatly: a deep-sea habitat (Sphere), a remote island off Costa Rica (Jurassic Park), an industrial complex in the Nevada desert (Prey), or 14th century France for instance (Timeline). In State of Fear the action is global in scope. The following are the book's settings, broken down by act, along with dates first introduced in the year 2004:
[edit] Akamai
- Paris Nord, France (May 2nd)
- Pahang, Malaysia (May 11th)
- Shad Thames, London (May 21st)
- Tokyo, Japan (June 1st)
- Vancouver, BC, Canada (June 8th)
- Stangfedlis, Iceland (August 23rd)
- Los Angeles, CA (August 23rd)
- Beverly Hills, CA (August 24th)
- Century City, CA (August 24th)
- Culver City, CA (August 24th)
- San Francisco, CA (October 4th)
- Point Moody, CA (October 5th)
- West Los Angeles (October 5th)
- Holmby Hills (October 5th)
[edit] Terror
- Punta Arenas, Chile (October 5th)
- Weddell Station, Antarctica (October 6th)
- "The Shear Zone", Antarctica (October 6th)
- Brewster Camp (October 6th)
[edit] Angel
(no new locations)
- Los Angeles, CA
- Century City, CA
[edit] Flash
- City of Commerce, CA (October 9th)
[edit] Snake
- Diablo Canyon, AZ (October 10th)
- Flagstaff, AZ (October 10th)
- McKinley State Park, AZ (October 11th)
- Auroraville, AZ (October 11th)
- Van Nuys, CA (October 11th)
- Sequoia National Park (October 12th)
- Oakland, CA (October 12th)
[edit] Blue
- Brentwood, CA (October 13th)
- Westwood, CA (October 13th)
- Santa Monica, CA (October 13th)
[edit] Resolution
- Gareda, Solomon Islands (October 14th)
- Resolution Bay, Gareda (October 14th)
- Pavutu, Gareda (October 14th)
- Pacific Basin (October 15th)
[edit] Vanutu
Vanutu is a fictional island in the novel. The name bears a striking resemblance to Vanuatu.
[edit] Allusions to Rising Sun
The characters of and the student-mentor relationship Peter Evans and John Kenner bear many similarities to that of Peter Smith and John Connor in Michael Crichton's earlier novel Rising Sun; even their names are similar. At one point in the book, one character even confuses John Kenner's name with Connor: "And somebody you are spending time with, a person named Kenner or Connor?"
[edit] Literary significance and criticism
This novel received strong criticism from some scientists [1], [2] and global warming environmental groups [3] for alleged inaccuracy. However, it was given praise as being even-handed and rationally minded by "man made global warming" skeptics.
The novel received the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) 2006 Journalism Award. AAPG Communications director Larry Nation told the New York Times, "It is fiction, but it has the absolute ring of truth."[4] The presentation of this award has been criticized as a promotion of the politics of the oil industry and for blurring the lines between fiction and journalism. [5] After some controversy within the organization, AAPG has since renamed the award the "Geosciences in the Media" Award. [6]
