Robert A. Heinlein is generally recognized as the most important American science fiction writer of the 20th century. This is the first detailed critical examination of his entire career. It is not a biography--that is being done in a two-volume work by William Patterson. Instead, this book looks at each piece of fiction (and a few pieces of sf-related nonfiction) that Heinlein wrote, chronologically by date of publication, in order to consider what each contributes to his overall accomplishment. The aim is to be fair, to look clearly at the strengths and weaknesses of the writings that have inspired generations of readers and writers.

Utopia has been achieved. For centuries, disease, hunger, poverty and war have been things found only in the histories. And applied genetics has given men and women the bodies of athletes and a lifespan of over a century. They should all have been very happy.... But Hamilton Felix is bored. And he is the culmination of a star line; each of his last thirty ancestors chosen for superior genes. Hamilton is, as far as genetics can produce one, the ultimate man. And this ultimate man can see no reason why the human race should survive, and has no intention of continuing the pointless comedy. However, Hamilton's life is about to become less boring. A secret cabal of revolutionaries who find utopia not just boring, but desperately in need of leaders who know just What Needs to be Done, are planning to revolt and put themselves in charge. Knowing of Hamilton's disenchantment with the modern world, they have recruited him to join their Glorious Revolution. Big mistake! The revolutionaries are about to find out that recruiting a superman is definitely not a good idea.... With an all new afterword by Tony Daniel. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).

The unfinished sci-fi masterpiece by the author of Stranger in a Strange Land—completed by the Hugo Award–winning author of The Stardance Trilogy. Joel Johnston has found the love of his life in Jinny Hamilton. Life would be perfect if only he earned enough money to support a family. But now that Jinny knows his love is true, she reveals an incredible secret: she is really Jinny Conrad, granddaughter of Richard Conrad, the wealthiest man in the solar system. And now that Joel proven his love for Jinny, her family has a plan for him. Joel is to be groomed for a place in the vast Conrad empire and sire a dynasty to carry on the family business. Most men would jump at the opportunity. But to Jinny’s surprise, and even his own, Joel turns down her generous offer and sets off on the mother of all benders. When he wakes up on a colony ship heading into space, he decides it’s time to forget Jinny and make a life among the stars. But his plans—and the plans of billions of others—are shattered by a cosmic cataclysm so devastating it will take all of humanity’s strength and ingenuity just to survive. When an outline for Variable Star was found among Robert A. Heinlein’s papers, Spider Robinson was commissioned to complete the novel. The result is a thrilling new work of science fiction from two of the genre’s greatest minds.

Science fiction-roman.

From Grandmaster Robert A. Heinlein comes a long-lost first novel, written in 1939 and never before published, introducing ideas and themes that would shape his career and define the genre that is synonymous with his name. July 12, 1939 Perry Nelson is driving along the palisades when suddenly another vehicle swerves into his lane, a tire blows out, and his car careens off the road and over a bluff. The last thing he sees before his head connects with the boulders below is a girl in a green bathing suit, prancing along the shore.... When he wakes, the girl in green is a woman dressed in furs and the sun-drenched shore has transformed into snowcapped mountains. The woman, Diana, rescues Perry from the bitter cold and takes him inside her home to rest and recuperate. Later they debate the cause of the accident, for Diana is unfamiliar with the concept of a tire blowout and Perry cannot comprehend snowfall in mid-July. Then Diana shares with him a vital piece of information: The date is now January 7. The year...2086. When his shock subsides, Perry begins an exhaustive study of global evolution over the past 150 years. He learns, among other things, that a United Europe was formed and led by Edward, Duke of Windsor; former New York City mayor LaGuardia served two terms as president of the United States; the military draft was completely reconceived; banks became publicly owned and operated; and in the year 2003, two helicopters destroyed the island of Manhattan in a galvanizing act of war. This education in the ways of the modern world emboldens Perry to assimilate to life in the twenty-first century. But education brings with it inescapable truths -- the economic and legal systems, the government, and even the dynamic between men and women remain alien to Perry, the customs of the new day continually testing his mental and emotional resolve. Yet it is precisely his knowledge of a bygone era that will serve Perry best, as the man from 1939 seems destined to lead his newfound peers even further into the future than they could have imagined. A classic example of the future history that Robert Heinlein popularized during his career, For Us, The Living marks both the beginning and the end of an extraordinary arc of political, social, and literary crusading that comprises his legacy. Heinlein could not have known in 1939 how the world would change over the course of one and a half centuries, but we have our own true world history to compare with his brilliant imaginings, rendering For Us, The Living not merely a novel, but a time capsule view into our past, our present, and perhaps our future. The novel is presented here with an introduction by acclaimed science fiction writer Spider Robinson and an afterword by Professor Robert James of the Heinlein Society.

After the U.S. is conquered, an enclave of brilliant misfits leads a rebellion against near-impossible odds. The totalitarian East has triumphed in a massive invasion and the United States has fallen to a dictatorial superpower bent on total domination. That power is consolidating its grip via concentration camps, police state tactics, and a total monopoly upon the very thoughts of the conquered populace. A tiny enclave of scientists and soldiers survives, unbeknownst to America's new rulers. It's six against six million¾but those six happen to include a scientific genius, a master of subterfuge and disguise who learned his trade as a lawyer-turned-hobo, and a tough-minded commander who knows how to get the best out of his rag-tag assortment of American discontents, wily operators, and geniuses. It's going to take technological savvy and a propaganda campaign that would leave Madison Avenue aghast, but the U.S. will rise again. The counterinsurgency for freedom is on, and defeat is not an option. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).