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Biography
American

Robert A. Heinlein

1907 — 1988

Robert A. Heinlein was the most commercially successful and culturally influential American science fiction writer of the twentieth century. His work — from the Future History stories of the 1940s through the controversial later novels — helped define the genre and bring it to mainstream attention. Stranger in a Strange Land (1961), Starship Troopers (1959), and The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (1966) are permanent fixtures of science fiction. He won the Hugo Award for Best Novel four times.

Past sales0
Period20th Century
NationalityAmerican
1. Biography

A short life of the author

Robert Anson Heinlein (1907–1988) was born on 7 July 1907 in Butler, Missouri. He attended the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, served in the Navy, and worked as an engineer before turning to science fiction writing in 1939. He was one of the “Big Three” of science fiction alongside Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke.

Life and Career

Heinlein’s career falls into three periods. The early stories (1939–1942), published in Astounding Science-Fiction under John W. Campbell’s editorship, established his “Future History” — a timeline of human civilisation stretching centuries into the future. These stories — along with the juvenile novels published by Scribner’s (1947–1958) — made him the most popular science fiction writer in America.

Starship Troopers (1959) — about a future military in which citizenship is earned through military service — was controversially refused by Scribner’s and published by Putnam. It won the Hugo Award and has been debated ever since: is it a fascist fantasy or a serious examination of civic duty?

Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) — about Valentine Michael Smith, a human raised by Martians who returns to Earth and founds a religion — became an unexpected countercultural bestseller in the 1960s. The word “grok” entered the English language.

The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (1966) — about a lunar colony’s revolution against Earth — is widely considered his finest novel: a compelling narrative combined with libertarian political philosophy and one of the first sympathetic portrayals of artificial intelligence.

Major Works and Themes

Heinlein’s fiction is about individual liberty, self-reliance, competence, and the tension between personal freedom and social obligation. His politics evolved from New Deal liberalism to libertarian conservatism, and his fiction tracks this evolution.

Key Works

  • Double Star (1956) — Hugo Award
  • Starship Troopers (1959) — Hugo Award
  • Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) — Hugo Award
  • The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (1966) — Hugo Award

Collecting Heinlein

The Scribner’s juveniles (1947–1958) — Rocket Ship Galileo, Space Cadet, Red Planet, Starman Jones, The Star Beast, Tunnel in the Sky, Citizen of the Galaxy, Have Space Suit—Will Travel — are highly collected: $50–$500+ each in dust jacket.

Stranger in a Strange Land (1961, Putnam) brings $200–$800. Starship Troopers (1959, Putnam) brings $150–$600. The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (1966, Putnam) brings $100–$400.

Heinlein signed at conventions and through correspondence. He died in 1988. Putnam first editions are the standard collected form for the major adult novels.