Citizen of the Galaxy
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Citizen of the Galaxy is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein published in 1957. Influenced by Rudyard Kipling's "Kim," it is arguably the finest of Heinlein's novels for young adults. Like many of Heinlein's novels, it is influenced by the author's background in and nostalgia for the U.S. Navy, which he had to leave as a young officer due to ill health.
Thorby is a slave being sold on a strange planet. He is bought by a crippled beggar for a trivial amount of money and taken to the beggar's underground hideout -- which is surprisingly well-furnished. Gradually Thorby realizes that his new master is more than a beggar -- he's a spy!
The old man treats Thorby as a son rather than a slave, and drills him in mathematics, history and several languages including Galacta and English. He sends him on errands all around the Sargon's capital city, passing messages to starship captains and helping keep track of the comings and goings of ships involved in the slave trade.
One day, coming back from an errand gone awry, Thorby finds out that the old man is dead, his head impaled on a pike with a defiant grin for the authorities. Mastering his funk, he evades the cops and seeks the help of a lady innkeeper who disguises herself as a rich dowager and smuggles Thorby into the spaceport. A friendly starship captain peels Thorby out of a pile of narcotic leaves and welcomes him aboard the ship of a Free Trader.
After he realizes that he will never be able to fully adjust to the tightly knit, almost tribal culture of the Traders, Thorby follows his surrogate father's wishes, and joins the military service of the Earth-based space republic which is the dominant power in the galaxy. Ultimately he returns to Earth where he discovers the links between his past and present lives.
This book is an excellent presentation of the unholy alliance between economic development and human exploitation.
Editions
- January 1, 1957, Charles Scribner's Sons, hardcover, ISBN 0684126915
- September 1, 1977, Scribner, board book, ISBN 0684153645
- June 12, 1978, Del Rey, paperback, ISBN 0345260740
- July 12, 1984, Del Rey, paperback, ISBN 0345289110
- July 12, 1984, Del Rey, paperback, ISBN 0345320980
- March 31, 1987, Atheneum, hardcover, 302 pages, ISBN 068418818X
- June 1987, Ballantine Books, paperback, ISBN 9994061267
- June 12, 1987, Del Rey, paperback reissue edition, 256 pages, ISBN 0345342445
- October 1, 1999, Sagebrush, library binding, ISBN 0613034384
- December 1, 2004, Blackstone Audiobooks, ISBN 0786184639
- December 1, 2004, Blackstone Audiobooks, cassette audiobook, ISBN 0786127449
- December 1, 2004, Blackstone Audiobooks, cassette audiobook, ISBN 0786128321
- December 1, 2004, Blackstone Audiobooks, CD audiobook, ISBN 0786184795
- December 1, 2004, Blackstone Audiobooks, CD audiobook, ISBN 0786183810
- May 17, 2005, Pocket, paperback, 288 pages, ISBN 1416505520fr:Citoyen de la galaxie