Stranger in a Strange Land
by Robert A. Heinlein
- Used
- good
- Paperback
- first
- Condition
- Good
- ISBN 10
- 0425043770
- ISBN 13
- 9780425043776
- Seller
-
Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
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
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
- A Cappella Books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 314206
- Title
- Stranger in a Strange Land
- Author
- Robert A. Heinlein
- Format/Binding
- Mass Market PaperBack
- Book Condition
- Used - Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- Reprint
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10
- 0425043770
- ISBN 13
- 9780425043776
- Publisher
- Berkley Medallion
- Place of Publication
- New York, NY
- Date Published
- March, 1968
- Pages
- 414
Terms of Sale
A Cappella Books
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About the Seller
A Cappella Books
About A Cappella Books
A Cappella Books is a full service used, new & out-of-print bookstore located in the heart of Atlanta's bohemian district, Little 5 Points, since 1989. We stock a general selection of some 20 to 30, 000 paperbacks & hardcovers, ranging from the common to the quite scarce. Our specialties reflect the personality of our neighborhood and, to varying degrees, our staff. But don't be fooled, we really have something for almost everybody who loves books. Come see us.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Reprint
- Any printing of a book which follows the original edition. By definition, a reprint is not a first edition.
- Cocked
- Refers to a state where the spine of a book is lightly "twisted" in such a way that the front and rear boards of a book do not...
- Mass Market
- Mass market paperback books, or MMPBs, are printed for large audiences cheaply. This means that they are smaller, usually 4...
- 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....