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Book description

Three thousand years after Earth's colonization of the planet Borthan, stories of self-serving hypocrisy that occurred among the first arrivals have bred a culture that forbids emotional sharing and denies the naturally human concept of 'self.' The result is a lasting peace, but at a terrible price. For it is a peace without love, without self, where even the mention of the word "I" is taboo. Spurred on by the arrival of an Earthman with a self-baring drug, Kinnall Darival breaks the strict code of the Covenant to record the sordid details of his rebellious life from the days of his royal youth to self-appointed prophet of love. He begins his account with the greatest of heresies: 'I am Kinnall Darival and I mean to tell you all about myself.' Winner of the Nebula Award for best novel, 1971 Robert Silverberg was born in 1935 and began to write while studying for his BA at Columbia University. He is one of the most prolific of all SF writers and among his many fine novels are Dying Inside, The Book of Skulls, A Time of Changes and Lord Valentine's Castle.