In spite of the movie based loosely on this book, it is considered one of Robert Heinlein's best and a classic of science fiction. It's basically the story of a young man who defies his father's wishes and joins the army. This is the future, of course, and war is fought very differently, technologically speaking, against a race of insects with a hive mind which is trying to destroy the human race. The focus is on Juan Rico's journey from a "boot" to eventually becoming an officer. It is, in a sense, a coming-of-age story as his experience in the military shapes his character and his views on life. It is heavy on descriptions of the tech and on the way that battles are fought. Along the way, we are offered some significant chunks of Heinlein's opinions on morality and human nature. Fore example, "The human race is too individualistic, too self-centered, to worry that much about future generations." Or this, "Citizenship is an attitude, a state of mind, an emotional conviction that the whole is greater than the part...and that the part should be humbly rpoud to scrifice itself that the whole may live." This is in reference to having the ability to vote vs. staying in the military and protecting society even though it meant that he would never get to vote. And this, "Social responsibility above the level of family, or at most of tribe, requires imagination--devotion, loyalty, all the higher virtues--which a man must develop himself; if he has them forced down him, he will vomit them out."
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