STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND
by Heinlein, Robert A
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Upper corners slightly bumped, a fine copy in a nearly fine dust jacket with mild shelf wear to spine ends and upper right front
- Seller
-
Laurel, Maryland, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, [1961]. First edition. Upper corners slightly bumped, a fine copy in a nearly fine dust jacket with mild shelf wear to spine ends and upper right front corner, yellow ink to title lettering of spine panel is slightly faded, rubs to spine/rear panel fold. An attractive copy. (25400). Octavo, cloth. Winner of the 1962 Hugo award for best novel. "Of all Heinlein's works this is the best known. It reached large audiences farther away from his science fiction roots than anything else he wrote..." "Stranger's cultural impact on an entire generation is, nonetheless, undeniable." - Anatomy of Wonder (1995) 3-91. Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-518. Survey of Science Fiction Literature V, pp. 2195-2200.
Synopsis
Stranger in a Strange Land is a best-selling 1961 Hugo Award-winning science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein. It tells the story of Valentine Michael Smith, a human raised by Martians on the planet Mars, after his return to Earth in early adulthood. The novel explores his interaction with--and the eventual transformation of--Earth culture. The novel's title refers to the Biblical Book of Exodus. According to Heinlein in Grumbles from the Grave, the novel's working title was The Heretic.
Reviews
On Jul 31 2011, Feeney said:
Robert A. Heinlein's 1961 STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND is a clear example of the "didactic" novel. It teaches, it preaches, its characters rant and debate, parry and thrust. Its story is not much. But its message resonated with millions of confused "searchers" for meaning in the turbulent 1960s and even into the cooler, more blase 1970s. *** Valentine Michael Smith, after his pioneering parents died opening up Mars, was raised in a nest on Mars by Martians as close to a Martian as he could be. A later expedition from Earth to Mars found young Mike Smith and returned him home. Meanwhile the ostensibly pacifistic Martians, it is hinted throughout the novel, are planning something nasty for the Earth and earthlings. Mike seeks for a way to defend the Earth without tipping his hand to the alien race that raised him. ***Smith goes through one cross-cultural shock after another, eventually deciding that he can prepare earthlings to resist suspected Martian imperialism by making it attractive for them to learn selectively features of Martian civilization (ceremony of sharing water, thinking empathetically aka "grokking" and others) while going beyond even the Martians by adopting a new Smith-created religion, Church of All The Worlds. *** Smith's intially sceptical admirer is crusty old libertarian lawyer Jubal E. Harshaw. Via dialogs and monologs of Harshaw, author Heinlein criticizes received human religions, mores, thought processes, nudity, clothing and more from a Martian point of view -- as filtered through hybrid Martian-Human Mike Smith. *** The level of argumentation ranges somewhere between 1960s American 7th grade and college sophomore, arguably, on balance, sub-adult. But STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND proved wildly attractive to an increasingly rootless, restless generation of young Americans thirsting for they knew not what, eager to grok and to say, "I am only and egg" and "Thou art God." Study STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND not as literature but as 1960s sociology. -OOO-
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Details
- Bookseller
- John W. Knott, Jr., Bookseller, ABAA/ILAB (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 25400
- Title
- STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND
- Author
- Heinlein, Robert A
- Book Condition
- Used - Upper corners slightly bumped, a fine copy in a nearly fine dust jacket with mild shelf wear to spine ends and upper right front
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First edition
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- G. P. Putnam's Sons
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- [1961]
- Keywords
- SF . SF Award
Terms of Sale
John W. Knott, Jr., Bookseller, ABAA/ILAB
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives mis-described or damaged.
About the Seller
John W. Knott, Jr., Bookseller, ABAA/ILAB
Biblio member since 2017
Laurel, Maryland
About John W. Knott, Jr., Bookseller, ABAA/ILAB
John W. Knott, Jr., BooksellerABAA/ILABFine First Editions
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- G
- Good describes the average used and worn book that has all pages or leaves present. Any defects must be noted. (as defined by AB...
- Octavo
- Another of the terms referring to page or book size, octavo refers to a standard printer's sheet folded four times, producing...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- First Edition
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- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Shelf Wear
- Shelf wear (shelfwear) describes damage caused over time to a book by placing and removing a book from a shelf. This damage is...