The premise of this book is that after a long period of isolation, the United States of America has been invaded and conquered by a group called the Panasians, an ethnically mixed group of Chinese and Japanese people.
They are a merciless and vicious occupation force and their control over the country is complete.
As this is going on, one of the main characters in the book, "Whitey" Ardmore, who is an Army Lieutenant, discovers a secret laboratory hidden deep in the Rocky Mountains.
There, despite the occupation, researchers in this facility have made a startling discovery: spectrums of energy beyond the known and documented electromagnetic wave spectrums.
These previously unknown spectrums can be made use of for numerous purposes, such as killing harmful microbes, changing one element to another, advanced and undetectable forms of communications, and (of course), weaponry.
Ardmore immediately begins organizing the people working in the lab and begins to manufacture weapons based on this newly discovered branch of science.
Also, he makes the decision to begin a religion revolving around a central figure known as "Lord Mota" (atom, spelled in reverse).
He builds centers of worship and temples in the biggest U.
S.
metro areas.
The occupying Panasians have a policy of avoiding interference in religious matters for the purpose of keeping locals pacified, so he has little trouble achieving all this without interference.
At each temple, he assigns a "priest" who are secretly recruited not for their piety but their loyalty to the deposed American government.
He equips each with a tall staff which can, by making use of the newly discovered "spectra," cure sick individuals almost instantaneously, and transmute base metals into gold in order to supply funds to the underground resistance movement.
The resistance is conducted in secret at first, and then in the open as the church of "Mota" gains in popularity and influence in America.
There is a final confrontation in the high Panasian Palace between Ardmore and the Panasian governor.
The Panasians have committed atrocities against the American people, and Ardmore is determined to deliver justice.
While Heinlein wrote this book some time ago, there are good scenes that make it an entertaining read all the same.
One in particular involves a key character deciding that he is Lord Mota reincarnated, and has to be dealt with by those around him.
Great stuff.
The scientific concepts behind the story were suggested to the author by a colleague of the author's who didn't quite know how to use them in a story.