characters." His primary criticism is of a "scientific flaw" he perceives in the gimmick that provides the resolution. Astounding reviewer P. Schuyler Miller praised the book for "provid[ing] more sheer entertainment than any the fantasy publishers have yet given us," noting that de Camp uses his "detailed knowledge of history" to depict "hypothetical future societies which ape those of the past--with differences." Sam Moskowitz saw the influence of Mark Twain in the story. Calling de Camp "the funniest writer in science fiction," he noted that "[t]hough the writing was choppy in spots, the details of an utterly unique social set-up, complete with its own slang, was engrossingly worked out and chuckle-provoking." William Mattathias Robins calls the piece "a story of the awakening of political consciousness [in which] Sir Howard progresses from viewing all his relationships in terms of class divisions to respecting people for their merit as individuals." Brian M. Stableford thought it "an eccentric story" and like the rest of "the work that de Camp [did] for Unknown ... quite impressive." To Don D'Ammassa "Divide and Rule" is "of particular note" among the "many memorable short stories" de Camp wrote. David Pringle, giving the story two out of three stars, rated it "[a] good-humoured adventure yarn." According to Earl Terry Kemp the story "shows de Camp's pre-war work at its best, [and] was a landmark in integrating adventure into the society out of which it arises." He feels the author "has played with the forces that form a society in a very amusing way which shows considerable sociological insight" and that "[a]s is frequently the case with de Camp's work, the ideas behind the story are even more interesting than the [story itself]. De Camp's work is a sort of Lewis Carroll nonsense-made-sensible--and that phrase best describes the ... novella." Relationship to other works In its portrait of a medieval-level society in the shadow of a technologically advanced one, "Divide and Rule" prefigures de Camp's later Krishna series, even down to such details as elephant-drawn trains (replaced by the elephant-analog "bishtars" in the Krishna stories). References Science fiction short stories Short stories by L. Sprague de Camp 1939 short stories Works originally published in Unknown (magazine)