Reviews and Comments

I checked this book out from the Japan House LA library, where they listed a 2012 publication date. It wasn't until I added the book to Bookwyrm this morning that I saw it was actually written in 1953. Had I known the book's publication date, I likely wouldn't have started reading it, but since I'm 2/3 of the way through it now, I'm going to go ahead and finish. The book does contain some good factual information in it, if (and it's a large "if") one can overlook the author's antiquated notions (by current standards) of the concepts of "folk art" and "craft."

Alternate history of the "alternate history because of magic" sort. If that's the sort of thing you like, you'll like this. The history underlying the story seemed to be, to be best of my knowledge, well-researched and accurate. Looking forward to reading the sequel.

I you need a little hope, this short story from Cory Doctorow might help. It doesn't sugarcoat the problems we're facing, doesn't try to pretend they don't exist, but he shows that there are potential ways forward and people who are working to get us there. I'm feeling better today after having read this.