Robert A. Heinlein is an outstanding figure in modern American science fiction. He has published voluminously, his science fiction sells well, and his work continues to be in print. His Stranger in a Strange Land and Starship Troopers have sold in the millions, especially in college bookstores. He has been described as one of the "fathers" of modern science fiction. He is also one of the few science fiction writers who have helped in making science fiction well known in "mainstream�...

There are two ways to review Robert A. Heinlein's work since Stranger in a Strange Land, excepting … The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. With that exception, there is a pre-1961 Heinlein and then there is this "new" fellow…. The old Heinlein was a crisp, slick wordsmith of uncommon intelligence and subtlety. His gift for characterization was sharp within its narrow limits, and those limits were fortuitously placed to include the archetypical science fiction hero…. All his...

[Heinlein's] own statement of his intent in writing [Stranger in a Strange Land] may well be noted; but it is not necessarily the reader's best guide in his perusal of it. "My purpose in this book," the author says, "was to examine every major axiom of the western culture, to question each axiom, throw doubt on it—and, if possible, to make the antithesis of each axiom appear a possible and perhaps desirable thing—rather than unthinkable." An ambitious ...