After the original release in the year of my birth, Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land was a key element in the blast that threw science fiction from the dregs of the Golden Age storytelling into the literature of the New Wave. One might, if one were daring enough, connect the book’s popularity among college students and message that freeing one’s attitudes towards sexuality from the mores of the post-War period as the key to personal redemption as a seminal factor in the sexual revolution that began only a few years later.
In 1990, two years after Heinlein’s death, his wife authorized the release of the “original uncut” version of the novel. Her forward to this edition justified it with a claim that he was never happy with the massive cuts (from over 200,000 words down to 150,000) imposed by his ublishing house, that the deleted material contained much of value. For historical reasons major fans of the author’s probably ought to read this version but for anyone else I recommend the classic version.
What is gained in all these extra pages? Little in the way of additional plot or character development and much in the way of Heinlein opinion and attitude. In ways that came to flower fully in Time Enough For Love, he explicates in annoying depths on religion, politics, relationships and sexuality. Even editing that was done to strengthen the language and impact has been removed and that is also a bad thing.
Sadly: not recommended
BillSaysThis 