"Free Men" is a science fiction short story by Robert A. Heinlein, which originally appeared in the Heinlein collection, The Worlds of Robert A. Heinlein (Ace F-375, 1966) and later collected in Expanded Universe. It is copyrighted by Heinlein in 1966, but was probably written between 1947 and 1950, judging from the foreword to it in Expanded Universe, which mentions that it was written after Rocket Ship Galileo.
In the story, America has been invaded and occupied after the "20 Minute War" and "Final Sunday". There is a dramatic change in the situation of Barclay Free Company, a small band of resisters.
The story is action-filled, but does pause at moments for a few polemics, the main thrust of which is that free people are free within themselves regardless of outward circumstances. The fierce defense of freedom and American ideals is typical of Heinlein and the period immediately after World War II.
Famous quotes containing the words free and/or men:
“Our Luke shall leave us, Isabel; the land
Shall not go from us, and it shall be free;
He shall possess it, free as is the wind
That passes over it.”
—William Wordsworth (1770–1850)
“Most people agree that men have trouble showing hurt, jealousy, and fear but even mothers, whose wider emotional range is often taken for granted, also seem more comfortable with anger than these other “unparentlike” feelings. This is probably because several generations of mothers have now been twelve-step-programmed and pop-psychologized enough to believe that expressing hurt, fear, anxiety, or dependence will create pathological guilt in their kids.”
—Ron Taffel (20th century)