Editing Methuselah's Children

{{Short description|1958 SF novel by Robert A. Heinlein}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox book | 
| name          = Methuselah's Children
| image         = Methuselahs Children 1958.jpg
| caption       = First edition cover
| author        = [[Robert A. Heinlein]]
| illustrator   =
| cover_artist  = Lionel Dillon
| country       = United States
| language      = English
| series        = [[Future History (novel)|Future History]]
| genre         = [[Science fiction]]
| publisher     = [[Gnome Press]]
| release_date  = 1958
| media_type    = Print (hardback & paperback)
| pages         = 188 
| isbn          = 0-451-09083-7
| preceded_by   = "[[Misfit (short story)|Misfit]]"
| followed_by   = [[Orphans of the Sky]]
}}

'''''Methuselah's Children''''' is a [[science fiction]] novel by American writer [[Robert A. Heinlein]]. Originally serialized in ''[[Astounding Science Fiction]]'' in the July, August, and September 1941 issues, it was expanded into a full-length novel in 1958. The novel is part of Heinlein's ''[[Future History (novel)|Future History]]'' series of stories. It introduces the [[Howard families]], a fictional group of people who achieved long lifespans through selective breeding.

According to [[John W. Campbell]], the novel was originally to be called ''While the Evil Days Come Not'',<ref>{{Cite journal |date=May 1941 |title=History to Come |journal=[[Analog Science Fiction and Fact|Astounding Science Fiction]] |volume=27 |pages=5}}
</ref> a quotation from [[Ecclesiastes]] used as a password on the second page of the story.

The novel was the origin of the term "[[masquerade (trope)|masquerade]]", now used to refer to a fictional [[Trope (literature)|trope]] of a hidden society within the real world.

==Plot summary==
Starting off a grocer, Ira Howard became rich as a [[sutler]] wholesaler during the [[American Civil War]], but died of old age at 48 or 49 years old. The trustees of his will carried out his wishes to prolong human life by financially encouraging those with long-lived grandparents to marry each other and have children. By the 22nd century, the "Howard families" have a life expectancy exceeding 150 years and keep their existence secret with the "Masquerade" in which the members fake their deaths and obtain new identities.

The Masquerade helped the Families survive the dictatorship of [[Nehemiah Scudder]], but as an experiment, some Howard members reveal themselves to The Covenant, hoping that the free society established after Scudder's defeat will be friendly. They are mistaken; others refuse to believe that the Families obtained their lifespan by [[selective breeding]], insisting that they have developed a secret method to extend life. Administrator Slayton Ford, leader of Earth, believes that the Families are telling the truth, but cannot prevent efforts to force Howard members to reveal their alleged rejuvenation treatments.

[[Lazarus Long]], the eldest member of the Families, proposes that the Families hijack the colony starship ''New Frontiers'' to escape Earth. Using an [[inertialess drive]] invented by Howard member [[Andrew Jackson Libby|Andrew Jackson "Slipstick" Libby]], the Families leave the Solar System with the deposed Ford. The first planet they discover has humanoid inhabitants [[domestication|domesticated]] by indescribable godlike natives. When Earthly humans prove resistant to similar domestication, they are expelled from the planet.

The second planet is a lush environment with no predators and mild weather. Its inhabitants, the “Little People”, are part of a [[Group mind (science fiction)|group mind]], with the mental ability to manipulate the environment on the genetic and molecular level, but do not distinguish between individuals. That becomes evident when Mary Sperling, the second oldest member of the Families, joins the group mind to become immortal. The Families are further horrified when the group mind genetically modifies the first baby born on the planet into a new, alien form. A majority of the Families want to return to Earth to demand their freedom; Libby, with the help of the group mind, builds a new [[faster-than-light drive]] to take them home in months instead of years.

The Families, returning to the [[Solar System]] 74 years after their original departure because of [[time dilation]], discover that Earth's scientists have artificially extended human lifespan indefinitely by replicating what they believe is the Families' secret. The Howard members are now welcomed for their discovery of travel faster than light. Libby and Long decide to recruit other members of the Families and explore space with the new drive.

==Critical reception==
Alva Rogers, in ''A Requiem for Astounding'', wrote that ''Methuselah's Children'' was "Full of adventure, conflict, romance, and enough casually tossed-off ideas to serve as the basis for a half-dozen other stories."<ref>
{{cite book|last=Rogers|first=Alva|year=1964|title=A Requiem for Astounding|url=https://openlibrary.org/b/OL5930850M/Requiem_for_Astounding|location=Chicago|publisher=Advent|isbn=9780911682168 |ol=5930850M }}</ref>

In ''Heinlein in Dimension'', [[Alexei Panshin]] wrote, "In many ways this is an important book.  For one, its main theme, the problem of escaping death, is one that keeps cropping up in Heinlein stories, and for another, an amazing number of brilliant ideas are tossed out along the way."<ref>
{{cite book|last=Panshin|first=Alexei|year=1968|title=Heinlein in Dimension|url=https://openlibrary.org/b/OL19583639M/Heinlein_in_dimension|location=Chicago|publisher=Advent|ol=19583639M }}</ref> [[Floyd C. Gale]] called the book "a classic".<ref name="gale195908">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/galaxymagazine-1959-08/Galaxy_1959_08#page/n135/mode/2up | title=Galaxy's 5 Star Star Shelf | work=Galaxy | date=August 1959 | access-date=14 June 2014 | author=Gale, Floyd C. | pages=138–142}}</ref>

==Reappearance of characters in other Heinlein novels==
Lazarus Long first appears in this novel. Other Heinlein novels featuring him include ''[[Time Enough for Love]]'', ''[[The Number of the Beast (novel)|The Number of the Beast]]'', ''[[The Cat Who Walks Through Walls]]'' and ''[[To Sail Beyond the Sunset]]''. [[Andrew Jackson Libby|Andrew "Slipstick" Libby]], previously seen as a young adult in the short story "[[Misfit (short story)|Misfit]]", also features prominently in this novel. In ''Time Enough for Love'', Libby is said to have become Lazarus Long's partner in space travel until his death.

==Awards==
*[[Prometheus Award|Prometheus Hall of Fame Award]] for "Best Classic Libertarian Sci-Fi Novel" (1997)

==See also==
* [[1958 in science fiction]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{ISFDB title|id = 1532|title = Methuselah's Children}}
* {{OL work|id=59726W|cname=''Methuselah's Children''}}
* ''Methuselah's Children'' parts [https://archive.org/stream/Astounding_v27n05_1941-07_dtsg0318-LennyS#page/n7/mode/2up one], [https://archive.org/stream/Astounding_v27n06_1941-08/#page/n61/mode/2up two], and [https://archive.org/stream/Astounding_v28n01_1941-09_SLiV#page/n131/mode/2up three] on the [[Internet Archive]]
* {{ibdof title|id=3|title=Methuselah's Children}}

{{Heinlein (Novel)}}
{{Future History}}

<!--Also known as-->

[[Category:1941 American novels]]
[[Category:Novels by Robert A. Heinlein]]
[[Category:American science fiction novels]]
[[Category:Libertarian science fiction books]]
[[Category:Novels first published in serial form]]
[[Category:Works originally published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact]]
[[Category:1941 science fiction novels]]
[[Category:Novels set in the 22nd century]]
[[Category:Space exploration novels]]
[[Category:Gnome Press books]]