Stranger in a Strange Land offers two views of human society, each inextricably linked to a main character in the story. Valentine Michael Smith is "the man from Mars." He is enormously powerful, educated in a fundamentally differen t way from humans, and generally innocent of the complexities of life on Earth. He provides the outsider's view of human society. He approaches every experience with no preconceived notions or attitudes.

Jubal Harshaw, "bon vivant, gourmet, sybarite, popular author extraordinary, and neo-pessimist philosopher," offers the insider's view. Jubal is a character that seems to have done everything and has found almost everything unfulfilling. He is the ultimate curmudgeon with a heart of gold, the quintessential skeptic and pessimist who can still take advantage of society's weaknesses by writing fiction that appeals to the most tawdry emotional desires. Jubal has seen a great deal of human society and...