In the following excerpt, Slusser surveys the plots and major thematic concerns of Heinlein's short fiction.

In the following essay, Franklin discusses the defining characteristics of Heinlein's early short fiction.

In the following essay, Sarti traces Heinlein's treatment of gender roles and sexuality in his short fiction.

In the following essay, Tucker explores the political, social, and economic threads found in Heinlein's fiction.

In the following essay, Slusser evaluates the impact of Heinlein's work, viewing him as “a national writer, one who carries into a new scientific century cultural and ethical patterns first conceived by nineteenth-century American thinkers and writers of ‘romance’.”

In the following essay, Gaar explores the theme of interchangeable parts and the central figure in several of Heinlein's novellas and short stories.

[What] is a "classic" Heinlein work? Most criticism of Heinlein begins and ends here. Invariably, each individual critic has chosen the works he likes best, dubbed them classics, and consigned the rest to oblivion…. The years to be covered in this study include, basically, the 1940s and 1950s—the period of the stories and novellas, and the novels of juvenile adventure. Unfortunately, there is no touchstone which allows a reader infallibly to pick "classics" out of t...

In the following essay, Wolfe contrasts the different approaches of Heinlein's Waldo and Clifford D. Simak's “Desertion” to the problem of integration between body and environment.

From 1947 through 1958, Robert Heinlein was primarily an author of science fiction aimed at the "juvenile" market, specifically at teenaged boys. Besides two minor novellas serialized in Boys' Life, the magazine of the Boy Scouts of America, there were twelve dazzlingly successful novels published as a juvenile series by Scribner's. These dozen novels have proved to be as popular and influential as anything Heinlein ever wrote, all going into continual mass-market reprintings, wi...

In the following essay, McGiveron explores the role of extraterrestrials in Heinlein's fiction.

I suspect that [Heinlein's] most enduring work will turn out to be the dozen juvenile novels he wrote for Scribner's after the war. Juvenile science fiction, as a labeled category, begins with Heinlein—though in fact most of the earlier magazine science fiction had been written for youthful readers and censored of anything likely to give offense. There had been new inventions, too, in Tom Swift and the dime novels, but no real futurology. The Heinlein series was a pioneer effort, quickl...

In a Heinlein juvenile, a young boy typically (one was a girl) grows to maturity, in the process of living through and effecting events projected into our next century, by means of making decisions that involve his intelligence and mold his character. (p. 144) [The vision Heinlein gave teenagers] was like Horatio Alger's in some ways, not only because it gave its readers a sense of their own potential, but also because it made clear that this potential could be limited as well as enhanced by scientif...

The "best" science fiction writer for most [readers] is a composite entity: Heinleinasimovclarke—usually in that order…. Omitting the enthusiastic burblers who can neither see, hear, nor speak evil of Heinlein, most critics have managed a certain consensus—they like his writing, but the sins of commission and omission in his writing are staggering: poor use of language, weak and inadequate plotting, poor storytelling techniques, and incapacity to handle mature sexual theme...

[The] frontier metaphor has been basic to Heinlein's writing. Only eight of his … novels take place primarily on Earth, and four of them concern relations between humans and intelligent extraterrestrial beings, while a fifth concludes on the Moon. This outward spatial movement, coupled with a forward temporal movement, places Heinlein's characters in situations of extremity, facing the unknown and having to learn to understand it, in order just to survive. Whether they are in spaceships...

In an attempt to account for the extraordinary popularity and influence of the novels of Robert Heinlein, it would be all too easy to assert that the masses are asses and let it go at that. Those of us academics who read Heinlein are likely to admit it with an apology, acknowledging that we realize his literary merit is probably small and our weakness in enjoying his work a minor character defect. We feel we should not relish his opinionated expressions…. We note that frankly didactic literature has ...

[Robert A. Heinlein] has been a vivid and controversial figure for three decades. His values have been called everything from fascistic to anarchistic, and as a writer he has been described as both a "natural storyteller" [see excerpt by Alexei Panshin in CLC, Vol. 3] and "not a particularly good story-teller" [see excerpt above by Brian Aldiss]. There is disagreement about which of his works are the best and which the worst, and about the value of his work as a whole. The fans h...

In 1941, Heinlein revealed the plans of his scheme for a Future History series, while [Isaac] Asimov began his long series of stories about robots with positronic brains whose behaviour is guided by three laws of robotics which prevent them from harming men. In this respect, Heinlein and Asimov brought literary law and order into magazine science fiction….

In the following essay, Slusser reflects on his personal friendship with Heinlein.

Robert Heinlein's following was ardent and instant with the appearance of his first short story in Astounding Science Fiction magazine more than 40 years ago, and it has multiplied with each of his publications. His series of "juveniles" had a great deal to do with raising that category from childish to what is now called YA—"Young adult." His influence on science fiction has been immense; his knowledge of the hard sciences and his gift for logical extrapolation ins...

The besetting sin of most SF is its humourlessness; there is precious little gaiety in space. Robert Heinlein is the exception. He is so completely the master of his medium that he can afford to make fun of it. Space Family Stone [published in the United States as The Rolling Stones] is, for the most part, an agreeable send-up of the spaceways. The Stones wisecrack their way from planet to planet, doing a little trade here and there, tending the sick (Mrs. Stone is a doctor) but mainly enjoying themselves. ...