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Robert Anson Heinlein

Within the SF genre, Robert A. Heinlein (1907 - 1988) was a strongly influential, and later controversial, author of many short stories and novels. These may be grouped into three "periods", though the first two strongly overlap, which I list below.

For other views, biographical details and more complete surveys of his works, see below.

Early Heinlein

Heinlein's early work earned him a well deserved reputation as one of the foremost practitioners of the field. Much of this material was organized under a "Future History" umbrella.

Of these works, I think Double Star was his finest novel and The Green Hills of Earth his best short story.

The "Juveniles"

These were a dozen to fourteen thematically similar novels aimed at a common young adult audience, cranked out at the rate of one a year. Many were also serialized before being published in book form. The first dozen were all published by Charles Scribner's Sons, NY; apparently there was break over the 13th (Straship Troopers), which was seen as inappropriate for a young audience. Thus, some consider only the first dozen books to properly be the "juveniles". The protagonists are all adolescents on the threshold of adulthood, whose experiences thrust them, by smaller or larger steps, toward maturity. With the exception of the last book, which I've chosen to include in this grouping, the protagonists are also males.

The first book of Heinlein's I read was Tunnel in the Sky and it made me a Heinlein fan. But my favorite has always been Have Space Suit -- Will Travel.

...

Later Work

Heinlein's later work was of a more philosophical nature (and clearly more self-indulgent), exploring themes of life, death, sexual mores &c; There was a clear sea change with the publishing of the then controversial Stranger in a Strange Land.

Of these, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress stands out as superior.

Links to other web pages devoted to RAH

The best place to start is James Gifford's Heinlein FAQ at his Robert A. Heinlein Home Page.

The coolest site is probably wegrokit.com. See the Heinlein Book Bin for a complete book list. Most notable about this site are the pictures of the book covers for the various editions of RAH's books, both US and international.

William B. Miller has a few pages suggesting books for young readers, and reviews all of Heinlein's core Juveniles.

Heribert E. Severing has pages both in several languages:

• English (alternate)
• Deutsch
• Francais

Another en Francais

Mama Maureen

(And the sites above also have their own lists of other sites devoted to Heinlein.)

My Thoughts on Heinlein's Thinking

(to be written: plotting rah on axes of conservative, liberal, libertarian, existentialist, sophist, moral relativist, social darwinist, racist, sexist, insert-your-hot-button-here)

Created: February 26, 2001
Last Modified: October 15, 2002
URL: http://www.gis.net/~mckenney/rfm/rfm_rah.html
© 2001-2002 Roland F. McKenney