You're right of course, a Retro Hugo doesn't really serve a purpose. But it's fun! :) Oh and I'm not positive but I'm pretty sure _Farmer in the Sky_ is still being published. ;)
It is: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0345324382/ qid=1077864477/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-5103243-0169458?v=glance&s=books. However, I doubt that the cover mentions that it won the Retro Hugo for 1951, the way a more recently published novel might mention that it won the Hugo last year or the year before.
The Retros are sort of an interesting exercise though. Consider which authors and books are on the ballot this year -- Asimov's _Caves of Steel_, Bradbury's _Fahrenheit 451_ and Clarke's _Childhood's End_. All have become sci-fi classics. I wonder how many true Hugo Award winners have been able to stand the test of time the way those three have.
Well, let's see...Stand On Zanzibar, Ringworld, Startide Rising, Hyperion, Dune, The Left Hand of Darkness, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, The Man in the High Castle, Neuromancer, Starship Troopers, A Canticle for Leibowitz, Lord of Light...I think those could be said to have stood "the test of time".
Of the three you list above, I would vote for Childhood's End.
Tom Beck
"I always knew I'd see the first man on the Moon. I never thought I'd see the last." - Dr. Jerry Pournelle
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