SUMMARY:
Robert A. Heinlein was the most influential science fiction writer of his era, an influence so large that, as Samuel R. Delany notes, "modern critics attempting to wrestle with that influence find themselves dealing with an object rather like the sky or an ocean." He won the Hugo Award for best novel four times, a record that still stands. "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" was the last of these Hugo-winning novels, and it is widely considered his finest work. It is a tale of revolution, of the rebellion of the former Lunar penal colony against the Lunar Authority that controls it from Earth. It is the tale of the disparate people--a computer technician, a vigorous young female agitator, and an elderly academic--who become the rebel movement's leaders. And it is the story of Mike, the supercomputer whose sentience is known only to this inner circle, and who for reasons of his own is committed to the revolution's ultimate success. "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" is one of the high points of modern science fiction, a novel bursting with politics, humanity, passion, innovative technical speculation, and a firm belief in the pursuit of human freedom. Robert Anson Heinlein was educated at the University of Missouri and the U.S. Naval Academy. After serving as a naval officer for five years, he retired for health reasons and began publishing SF in 1939. Considered the dean of American SF writers, Heinlein was loved and emulated during the half century that he wrote SF. He wrote dozens of novels and short stories, including "Double Star, Stranger in a Strange Land," and" The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, " all of which won Hugo Awards. Heinlein was the recipient of the First Grand Master Nebula in 1975, and he was the guest of honor at three World SF Conventions: in 1941, 1961, and 1976. He has repeatedly been voted "best all-time author" in readers' polls. Robert A. Heinlein passed away in 1988. The Hugo Award-winning classic that helped launch modern libertarianism, "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress" is Heinlein's unforgettable tale of a Lunar revolution in 2076. Led by a one-armed computer technician, a radical blonde bombshell, an aging academic, and a sentient, all-knowing computer, the revolution's proclamation--"TANSTAAFL" (There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch)--remains a slogan of the libertarian movement today. "He presided over American Science Fiction."--Joe Haldeman "He was admired and envied for more than a century by the brightest human beings on Earth."--Larry Niven