Biographical Note:
Ursula Kroeber Le Guin was born in Berkeley, California, in 1929. She was the bestselling author of the Earthsea books and the Hainish books, including The Left Hand of Darkness, which was awarded both the Nebula and the Hugo Awards. With the awarding of the 1975 Hugo and Nebula Awards to The Dispossessed, she became the first author to win both awards twice for novels. She passed away in 2018.

Review Quotes:
Praise for The Left Hand of Darkness

"[A] science fiction masterpiece."-- Newsweek

"A jewel of a story."--Frank Herbert

"As profuse and original in invention as The Lord of the Rings."--Michael Moorcock

"An instant classic."-- Minneapolis Star-Tribune

"Like all great writers of fiction, Ursula K. Le Guin creates imaginary worlds that restore us, hearts eased, to our own."-- The Boston Globe

"A towering figure in science fiction and fantasy."--NPR

Table of Contents:
Introduction -- 1. A Parade in Erhenrang -- 2. The Place Inside the Blizzard -- 3. The Mad King -- 4. The Nineteenth Day -- 5. The Domestication of Hunch -- 6. One Way into Orgoreyn -- 7. The Question of Sex -- 8. Another Way into Orgoreyn -- 9. Eestraven the Traitor -- 10. Conversations in Mishnory -- 11. Soliloquies in Mishnory -- 12. On Time and Darkness -- 13. Down on the Farm -- 14. The Escape -- 15. To the Ice -- 16. Between Drumner and Dremegole -- 17. An Orgota Creation Myth -- 18. On the Ice -- 19. Homecoming -- 20. A Fool's Errand -- The Gethenian Calendar and Clock.

Publisher Marketing:
When "The Left Hand of Darkness first appeared in 1969, the original jacket copy read, "Once in a long while a whole new world is created for us. Such worlds are Middle Earth, Dune - and such a world is Winter." Twenty-five years and a Hugo and Nebula Award later, these words remain true. In Winter, or Gethen, Ursula K. Le Guin has created a fully realized planet and people. But Gethen society is more than merely a fascinating creation. The concept of a society existing totally without sexual prejudices is even more relevant today than it was in 1969. This special 25th anniversary edition of The Left Hand of Darkness contains not only the complete, unaltered text of the landmark original but also a thought-provoking new afterword and four new appendixes by Ms. Le Guin. When the human ambassador Genly Ai is sent to Gethen, the planet known as Winter by those outsiders who have experienced its arctic climate, he thinks that his mission will be a standard one of making peace between warring factions. Instead the ambassador finds himself wildly unprepared. For Gethen is inhabited by a society with a rich, ancient culture full of strange beauty and deadly intrigue - a society of people who are both male and female in one, and neither. This lack of fixed gender, and the resulting lack of gender-based discrimination, is the very cornerstone of Gethen life. But Genly is all too human. Unless he can overcome his ingrained prejudices about the significance of "male" and "female, " he may destroy both his mission and himself.

Review Citations:

• Library Journal 09/15/1987 (EAN 9780441478125, Mass Market Paperbound)
• Entertainment Weekly 04/25/2008 pg. 121 (EAN 9780441478125, Mass Market Paperbound)