Starship Troopers - Heinlein

As I've mentioned before, I'm a huge Heinlein fan. When I did the Great American Novel project I suggested that this book should probably be added in. I still feel that way. I hate to push books on this site but if you haven't read this before, please consider picking it up. It presents some very challenging ideas about the military and the role of a citizen within a nation. It's also entertaining as all get out!
In the late 50's, Heinlein set out to write down some of his thoughts on the nature of military service and it's role in a good society and this is the book that came out. His first step was to look at a common problem with democracies; the average voter comes to vote his/her interests above any kind of national ideal (commonly known as voting for 'bread and circuses). How then to get voters to care for the larger group?
Heinlein didn't think you can really train a patriotic urge into them. He says that you could no more give a blind man sight than to make a particular individual more responsible. Instead he opted for a system where people could voluntarily prove this ethic before they were given the right to vote. In this system a person could only become a voting citizen if they served a military term or (importantly) a non-violent but demanding and possibly dangerous equivilant. In other words, each voter had proved that they cared more about the larger body of people than they did about their own sole life.
To say that Starship Troopers is one of the most controversial Hugo winners ever is no understatement. Not because of the quality of the writing (up to par with Heinlein's usual high standard) but because the ideas he presented are not popular. The book is routinely denounced as fascist, by people who confuse the term with 'warlike'. It's an ironic note that the idea of tying citizenship to military service was partly inspired by the Swiss tradition where able bodied men serve at least two years in the army.
I don't find the book to be war-loving as much as it is war-understanding. Heinlein says that a strong military is all that protects a civilized people from the uncouth barbarians that will always gather at the gates. He suggests that any people that stops growing and pushing will be soon pushed aside by others with no moral qualms to stop them. For this, even the most civilized society needs 'rough and ready' men willing to fight for those at home.
But I don't want the entire book to sound like a dry ethics tome because it certainly isn't. 'Starship Troopers' covers the enlistment and military career of Juan Rico in a futuristic military. The whole shebang from signing up against his parents wishes to boot camp to his first combat experiences to the day when he leads his own troops. It's filled with action and regret and the things mentioned above are lessons learned along the way.
Also, please don't confuse this wonderful novel with the awful movie of the same name. 'Starship Troopers' is the book that 'Saving Private Ryan', the movie almost was.