The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is a 1966 science fiction by Robert A. Heinlein. It takes place on the Moon in the year 2075, where the inhabitants of a penal colony harvest ice and grain for the Earth government. Its main characters include Mannie, Wyoh, professor Bernardo de la Paz and the conscious computer "Mycroft" HOLMES. It was recognized with the 1967 Hugo Award for Best Novel and with the 1983 Prometheus Hall of Fame Award.
Review from LaissezFaireBooks.com, by L. Neil Smith:
Libertarians had long suspected that Robert Heinlein might be one of them, but in 1966, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress surprised even those raised on Double Star and Red Planet. "Loonies"—criminal and political transportees—revolt against brutal Terran Authority, led by a philosophy professor, a host-mother, a sapient computer named Mycroft Holmes, and his friend, a high-tech handyman. With them, we follow the revolt from its accidental beginning, through its belated planning stages, to a climax where a unique weapon is devised to make Earth surrender.
At a moment in history when Americans were putting their brains on Hold or reactionarily tightening the national orifice, Mistress recapitulated the events of 1776 and reaffirmed the intellectual revolution on which they were predicated, while telling a compelling story with persuasive, likeable characters. The literature of liberty offers too few adventures like this. Mistress is as welcome now as it was then.
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