Stranger in a Strange Land, Revisited
1968 Edition
Recently I've been talking to people online about the books that have had the greatest impact on them. Several people, including myself, cited Stranger in a Strange Land, a novel by Robert A Heinlein published in 1961, known for its unlikely adoption by the counterculture of the time and for being the origin of the word "grok". The book sparked a huge appreciation for Heinlein in me, prompting me to collect every one of his novels and to idolize him as a writer and a person. My lifelong love science fiction can be traced back to the paperback copy of the novel given to me in 7th grade by a friend of my mother. It was only as an adult that I began to see some of the misogyny and rightward leaning militarism in his work. In talking about this with progressive friends, I've experienced mixed reactions and a general attitude that he should be evaluated as a man of his time. That's what I've been doing lately, and, in my reading, I came across the website for The Heinlein Society, a pro-Heinlein uber-fan club, but a good resource, nevertheless.
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