Other editions of book Methuselah's Children

After the fall of the American Ayatollahs as foretold in Stranger in a Strange Land and chronicled in Revolt in 2100, the United States of America at last fulfills the promise inherent in its first Revolution: for the first time in human history there is a nation with Liberty and Justice for All. No one may seize or harm the person or property of another, or invade his privacy, or force him to do his bidding. Americans are fiercely proud of their re-won liberties and the blood it cost them; nothing could make them forswear those truths they hold self-evident. Nothing except the promise of immortality...

Lazarus Long, member of a select group bred for generations to live far beyond normal human lifespans, helps his kind escape persecution after word leaks out and angry crowds accuse them of withholding the “secret” of longevity. Lazarus and his companions set out on an interstellar journey and face many trials and strange cultures, like a futuristic Odysseus and his crew, before returning to Earth. This classic novel, set in Robert A. Heinlein’s Future History universe, introduces the author’s most beloved and widely quoted character (see THE NOTEBOOKS OF LAZARUS LONG)."Not only America's premier writer of speculative fiction, but the greatest writer of such fiction in the world."- Stephen King"There is no other writer whose work has exhilarated me as often and to such an extent as Heinlein."- Dean Koontz"One of the most influential writers in American Literature."- The New York Times Book Review"Heinlein wears imagination as though it were his private suit of clothes."- The New York Times"Heinlein… has the ability to see technologies just around the bend. That, combined with his outstanding skill as a writer and engineer-inventor, produces books that are often years ahead of their time."- The Philadelphia Inquirer"One of the grand masters of science fiction."- The Wall Street JournalRobert A. Heinlein (1907-1988), often called the Science Fiction Grand Master, was the author of such ground-breaking novels as STARSHIP TROOPERS, RED PLANET, STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND and THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS. He is generally considered the greatest and most influential science fiction writer of the twentieth century. In addition to being a bestselling author, Heinlein's novels won 4 Hugo awards, 3 "retro Hugo" awards, and the first "Grand Master Award" from the Science Fiction Writers of America.

After the fall of the American Ayatollahs as foretold in Stranger in a Strange Land and chronicled in Revolt in 2100, the United States of America at last fulfills the promise inherent in its first Revolution: for the first time in human history there is a nation with Liberty and Justice for All. No one may seize or harm the person or property of another, or invade his privacy, or force him to do his bidding. Americans are fiercely proud of their re-won liberties and the blood it cost them; nothing could make them forswear those truths they hold self-evident. Nothing except the promise of immortality…

All roads to Heinlein pass through Methuselah's Children, many of his works are interconnected and this book is the keystone that connects them all. Because Ira Howard, finds himself dying of old age while in his mid-40s, his Will institutes a foundation to encourage discovery of a means to prolong human life. To this end the Howard Foundation contacts people whose grandparents live to be 100 or more and encourages them to marry. These Families agree to allow some of their number to reveal themselves to the general populace, it having become difficult to conceal the true ages. A frenzy of hatred develops, engendered by opportunistic politicians, abetted by the media. Lazarus Long, who has managed to evade capture, scheme to enable the Families to 'liberate' the newly-built exploratory Starship to escape Earth.

After the fall of the American Ayatollahs as foretold in Stranger in a Strange Land and chronicled in Revolt in 2100, the United States of America at last fulfills the promise inherent in its first Revolution: for the first time in human history there is a nation with Liberty and Justice for All. No one may seize or harm the person or property of another, or invade his privacy, or force him to do his bidding. Americans are fiercely proud of their re-won liberties and the blood it cost them; nothing could make them forswear those truths they hold self-evident. Nothing except the promise of immortality…

After the fall of the American Ayatollahs as foretold in Stranger in a Strange Land and chronicled in Revolt in 2100, the United States of America at last fulfills the promise inherent in its first Revolution: for the first time in human history there is a nation with Liberty and Justice for All. No one may seize or harm the person or property of another, or invade his privacy, or force him to do his bidding. Americans are fiercely proud of their re-won liberties and the blood it cost them; nothing could make them forswear those truths they hold self-evident. Nothing except the promise of immortality…

Members of the Families were ordinary human beings, no different from neighboring Smiths or Browns, except for one disturbing trait: they were extraordinarily long-lived. In the ultra-civilized year of 2125 A.D. this distinction was intolerable. Hounded for a secret they did not knowingly possess, the Families were forced to choose - torture and extinction by their jealous, short-lived fellowmen ... or flight from Earth on an untested starship. They chose the latter. But to their horror they discovered that the alien stars nourished a threat even more terrifying that the one which had taken them from Earth.