Thirty years ago, G.P. Putnam's Sons published an novel that not only would become the bible of the "love generation" but also would transcend the science fiction genre to achieve the status of a moderna classic - and sell millions of copies.  The book was Robert A. Heinlein's earthly "divine comedy," Stranger in a Strange Land - the epic saga of an earthling, born and educated on Mars, who arrives on our planet with superhuman powers and a total ignorance of the mores of man.  His name is Valentine Michael Smith, and he is destined to become a freak, a media comodity, a scam artist, a searcher, a sexual poineer, a neon evangelist, a martyr, and finally, a messiah.
    To commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of its original publication, Putman proudly presents the uncut version of this watershed work.  Here is every word, every turn of phrase, exactly as Heinlein intended it.  Bigger, richer than its predecessor, this edition describes a geopolitical world and a post-holocaust America considerably more plausible today than in 1961.  Here, fully presented for the first time, is all the irreverence, all the irony, all the frank sensuality for which Stranger is legendary.  Here, too, are the roots of a New Age culture as they were first embraced by a freer generation thiry years ago.
    For Heinlein fans and science fiction bufgs, for the millions of readers who took Stranger in a Strange Land to their hearts, and for a whole generation in search of the spirited and the spiritural, the publication of this uncut version is indeed cause for celebration.

Robert A. Heinlein is, to many readers, Mr. Science Fiction.  His work is considered both controversial and influential.  He won the Hugo Award for four of his novels:  Stranger in a Strange Land, Starship Troopers, Double Star , and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress .  Heinlein died in May 1988.