Citizen of the Galaxy [Paperback]

Later, Baslim calls in some favors and sends Thorby to live with the Free Traders, a group of space merchants that keep to themselves with their own unique culture. Here Thorby discovers another aspect of freedom: a person's ability to do as he wishes is severely constrained by the culture in which he lives. The Free Trader society (which owes much to Margaret Mead's seminal ideas, and highlighted by an anthropologist character named Margaret Mader - Heinlein was not usually so obvious with his names) of rigid matriarchal domination and separation into moieties provides security, peace of mind, and the ability through rigid rules of formalism to allow a small group of people to live together for extended periods without breaking any heads, but has as its downside great limitations on freedom of choice. This section of the book may be the best part, as the society is so different from today's American culture that it becomes fascinating in its own right, apart from its effects on Thorby. Thorby himself grows and changes significantly in this part of the book, from first love to determining just how he must balance the demands of duty and personal desires.

The last section deals with Thorby back on Earth, within a society not much different from our own, and shows a third aspect of freedom: the internal courageousness to make your own decisions and act upon them. Freedom is just as constrained by internal timidity and/or defining decisions as by external forces. As this last section offers little in terms of new or different views of society (though it is a good mirror of some of the flaws of a capitalistic/lawyer dominated one), it isn't as engrossing as the first two sections, but is highly important in terms of completing Heinlein's thematic investigation of all aspects of freedom.

Characterization other than Thorby and Baslim is pretty thin, especially for the females that appear in supporting roles. This was fairly typical for his juveniles, as they were basically strong adventure novels with their primary focus on their central character. But the thematic line on slavery/freedom is much stronger than his most of his messages in other books, and as this particular position is also stated in some of those other works (most especially Farnham's Freehold), has to be seen as one of Heinlein's personal beliefs (unlike some other positions he proposes in his books that seem mainly designed to stir up debate).

This book is not Heinlein's absolute best, nor even the best of his so-called 'juveniles' (which are typically better reading than most 'adult' mainstream bestsellers), but still provides an engrossing, fun, and illuminating read. Recommended for all readers willing to look at life styles different from their own.

--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)

Heinlein gives us three strikingly different looks at family life. While Thorby is happy as a part of the immensely complicated Free Trader family on Sisu, he looks back at his days with the beggar Baslim as the happiest of his life. On the ship, one is barely acknowledged as existing if he/she is not a part of the family. The only person who talks to Thorby at first is an anthropologist, and she gives a poignant explanation of this type of society. The family is free, yet each individual in that family is in some way a slave; Thorby is told what to do and when and where to do it. The ultimate lesson is learned on Terra, where the prescripts of Baslim continue to guide Thorby's actions. He is determined to fight against the slave trade, which is something most Terrans don't even believe exists because it is taking place far, far away. For Thorby, it is personal and he devotes his life to fighting against it. The ultimate responsibility he learns is to fully devote himself to the noble cause, to be willing to give us his own freedom, even to become a beggar as Baslim did, in order to work for the freedom of others. The story is as much fantasy as science fiction, but the message it contains and the moral lessons it teaches make it one of Heinlein's most important and enjoyable novels.