The Man in the High Castle

In Philip K. Dick’s alternate history novel, the Allies have lost WWII and the United States is divided up between Nazi Germany in the east and the Empire of Japan in the west.

I found The Man in the High Castle a fascinating theory of what might have become of the United States had the Axis powers been victorious. The oppression and fear experienced by the characters is palatable as each of them struggles for the best existence they can manage given their circumstances all while the protagonist searches for the author of a popular but banned novel in which… show more.

This masterpiece from one of the giants of mind-blowing SF is best known as a canonical example of alternate history: set in a world where the Axis powers won World War II, and the former U.S.A. is divided between occupying forces of Imperial Japan on the West Coast and Nazi Germany. As such, the conflict in the book is really about the underground resistance forces’ efforts against the occupiers.

Lots of writers have played with similar premises, but I love Dick’s the most because of its narrative daring, from using the I Ching as a device to generate plot to… show more.

This was the first science fiction I read that played with the idea of alternate history, and it cracked my brain wide open when I was a youngster! But I’ve recently reread it, and it still has such power.

The book shows a world in which the Axis won WWII. But it’s a multiverse book, too, because, in the novel, there is evidence that a universe exists in which the Allies won the war. Evidence that must be stamped out. The reality that Dick paints in this novel is just so compelling and depressingly real. It resonates even now and… show more.

I am a huge fan of alternate history books, and this was the book that started my love affair.

The author’s character and set building in this book was just brilliant. I’m not sure if PKD was the first to create the multiverse genre, but he is one of the greatest to have ever taken his readers on such a wild journey to them. The TV series was fantastic, but the book is a masterpiece.

Now, you may be thinking – hey, that’s an alternate history SF. And you’re right, but in my view, alternate history is a subset of multiverse novels. Dick’s book relies on an interpretation of an idea in quantum physics which answers the paradox of Schrödinger’s cat. (You know, the one where the cat is both alive and dead in the box, until you look at it – and then it’s one or the other?)

The Many Worlds Interpretation (MWI) suggests that if the cat is alive in your world, it’s dead in another. There are two worlds because of that… show more.

This alternative history novel is a vision of what could well have been if things had gone slightly differently. The vision presented by the author is haunting because, throughout the book, you cannot free yourself of the thought that this could really have happened. It leaves you thinking about how easily your life could turn into a nightmare and how impotent you are to change the course of history. You finish the book feeling that you just dodged a bullet.