David Johnson wrote:

> Like Jay, this made me think about the Opium Wars, but it doesn't seem
> like Beam ever looked to that bit of history for models for his
> fiction. We get no indications of narcotics addiction in the
> Federation era (though perhaps the "bad guys" were too busy trying to
> be slavers!), much less of the Federation military also being a
> commercial enterprise, as is the case in some nations today with
> military-backed governments.

Probably too depressing to write a story in which there are no good
guys.

As I recall, Heinlein complained that his young adult books were
scrubbed of some unseemly content. Might Piper have had to adjust his
writing as well?