Stranger in A Strange Land

Stranger in a Strange Land is a 1961 science fiction novel by American author Robert A. Heinlein. It tells the story of Valentine Michael Smith, a human who comes to Earth in early adulthood after being born on the planet Mars and raised by Martians. The novel explores his interaction with—and eventual transformation of—terrestrial culture. The title seems an allusion to the phrase in Exodus 2:22 (in the Biblical Book of Exodus). According to Heinlein, the novel's working title was The Heretic. Several later editions of the book have promoted it as "The most famous Science Fiction Novel ever written".

When Heinlein first wrote Stranger in a Strange Land, his editors at Putnam required him to drastically cut its original 220,000-word length down to 160,067 words. In 1962, this version received the Hugo Award for Best Novel.

The book was a success from the start. Over the following years word-of-mouth caused sales to rise further, requiring numerous reprintings of the first Putnam edition. Eventually Stranger in a Strange Land became a cult classic.

After Heinlein's death in 1988, his wife Virginia arranged to have the original uncut manuscript published in 1991. Critics disagree over which is superior: Heinlein's preferred original manuscript or the heavily-edited version which was initially published. There is similar contention over the two versions of Heinlein's Podkayne of Mars.

In 2012 the US Library of Congress named it one of 88 "Books that Shaped America."