The freewheeling and freedom-loving lunar settlers parallel the early American colonists in their own struggle for independence. His libertarian masterpiece, “The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress” (1966), deals with the rebellion of the lunar colony against the oppressive rules imposed from Earth. Heinlein explored social and political ideas, bringing to bear his own libertarian views and his emphasis on self-reliant individuals who were competent enough to stand up to and to deal with whatever fate and circumstance might throw at them. He was the only one of the three I never met in person, but I am told he was as boyish and optimistic as Asimov and Clarke undoubtedly were. They lifted SF out of its space opera phase of death rays and tentacled aliens, and into works that explored how scientific progress might shape future societies and future attitudes. Together with Isaac Asimov and Arthur C Clarke, he was one of the best-known SF writers who were the “big three” of the golden age of hard SF writing that featured accurate and realistic future science. The science fiction writer, Robert Heinlein, was born on July 7th 1907.
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