{"id":8424,"date":"2024-12-30T00:05:24","date_gmt":"2024-12-30T06:05:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/?p=8424"},"modified":"2024-12-31T14:09:58","modified_gmt":"2024-12-31T20:09:58","slug":"best-of-the-blog-2024-part-three-reviews-of-naomi-kritzers-controversial-libertys-daughter-wil-mccarthys-first-contact-sequel-beggars-sky-sandra-newman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/best-of-the-blog-2024-part-three-reviews-of-naomi-kritzers-controversial-libertys-daughter-wil-mccarthys-first-contact-sequel-beggars-sky-sandra-newman\/","title":{"rendered":"Best of the blog 2024, part three: Reviews of Naomi Kritzer\u2019s controversial Liberty\u2019s Daughter, Wil McCarthy\u2019s first-contact sequel Beggar\u2019s Sky, Sandra Newman\u2019s Orwell-inspired Julia, and Salman Rushdie\u2019s liberal\/libertarian novel Victory City\u2028"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Michael Grossberg<\/a><\/p>\n

While most reviews <\/b>published on the Prometheus blog tend to focus on our Best Novel or Best Classic Fiction finalists or winners, other works deserve attention, too.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As time permits, and when nominated (or nominatable) works capture our attention and stimulate both enjoyment and further thoughts, we strive to bring it to the attention of Libertarian Futurist Society members and the wider public by writing about it – hopefully, in ways that make it clear how the work is relevant to Prometheus Award themes.<\/p>\n

Here are excerpts from four such novels of note that we reviewed in 2024 – and that continue to deserve recognition and wide readership:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

SALMAN RUSHDIE\u2019S VICTORY CITY<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/b>Salman Rushdie\u2019s historical fantasy makes a poignant and powerful case for liberty as a key ingredient in the constellation of value and virtues that support human flourishing and the never-to-be-taken-for-granted rise of civilization.<\/p>\n

Rueful in its ideals, but also often cynical and realistic about human nature, Victory City<\/i>\u00a0fictionalizes and dramatizes the rise and fall of medieval-Indian empires \u2013 and with their fall, the mournful collapse of the emerging modern-liberal\/libertarian order of \u00a0free international trade, peace, tolerance, sexual equality\/diversity and religious liberty.<\/p>\n

Weaving mythological and supernatural elements into his well-researched tapestry of 1500s-1600s Indian and Asian history, Rushdie employs his modernist style of self-awareness and narrative ambiguity to explore the impermanence of peace and freedom and celebrate the temporary Renaissance-style eras that are the glorious fruits of liberty.<\/p>\n

Gradually, I came to understand Rushdie\u2019s novel as a libertarian tragedy \u2013 mostly subtle and implicit, but occasionally explicit in its language and values \u2013 about the difficulty of sustaining civilization and liberty amid recurring cycles of war and peace, love and hate, progress and reaction, tolerance and witch hunts, given the baser and perennial aspects of human nature, especially the blind lust for power.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Salman Rushdie (Creative Commons license)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Through Rushdie\u2019s saga fictionalizing many aspects of medieval and India history with his distinctive style of magical realism, readers of all religions, ideologies and beliefs can\u2019t help but learn about the deep and intrinsic connections among liberty, equal rights, peace, trade, women\u2019s rights, and respect for different religious beliefs.<\/span><\/p>\n

As Rushdie cumulatively dramatizes, though never in a dogmatic way, such crucial aspects of the modern and cosmopolitan liberal\/libertarian order have emerged in fits and starts, yet remain perennially under threat from human irrationality, stupidity, venality and power-lust.<\/p>\n

Such a pessimistic view of history may be hard to reconcile with many libertarians\u2019 fondest hopes about achieving full freedom in the 21st\u00a0century, but Rushdie\u2019s bittersweet and picaresque saga offers powerful lessons for our troubled and darkening time.<\/p>\n

Most admirably, throughout his novel Rushdie consistently shows that freedom is vastly preferable to tyranny \u2013 yet always remains in danger of being undermined, taken for granted or actively destroyed by foolish and egotistical rulers \u2013 an all-too faithful reflection of world history.<\/p>\n

Enjoyable and surprising to read in its scope and variety of stories and characters but never dogmatic or ideological, Victory City implicitly explores recurring questions about society, government, politics and human nature.<\/p>\n

Several are close to our libertarian hearts: Why does tyranny arise so often? Why do civilizations rise and fall? What are the factors in social collapse? Why do so many people get resigned to tyranny and war? Why does tyranny recur even after people come to appreciate eras imbued with the benefits of liberty, civility, tolerance and peace?\u201d<\/p>\n

WIL MCCARTHY\u2019S BEGGAR\u2019S SKY<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an excerpt from Rick Triplett\u2019s review of Wil McCarthy\u2019s Beggar\u2019s Sk<\/i>y, a sequel to McCarthy\u2019s Rich Man\u2019s Sky,<\/i> our 2022 Best Novel winner.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cNotably, McCarthy illuminates and explores the characters\u2019 personal qualities and\u00a0especially how these people handle \u2018power.\u2019 By power I mean economic: their resources and productive capabilities. This helps\u00a0readers distinguish it from political power, which is control via the use of force.<\/p>\n

McCarthy\u2019s novel frequently mentions the \u201cfour\u00a0Horsemen\u201d (as in the Biblical apocalypse), who are the apogees of power at that time. These four are Renz, Orlov, and Killian\u00a0supplemented \u2013 as best as I can tell \u2013 by The Cartel (gangsters with high tech and low morals).<\/p>\n

This distinction in kinds of\u00a0power is jarring to most people on the \u201cleft,\u201d but is important when you consider the advantage to clear thinking it makes\u00a0possible. The four horsemen are trillionaires, which paints them as not just suspect but dangerous to humanity in the common\u00a0view.<\/p>\n

But very much as in Rich Man\u2019s Sky,<\/i> McCarthy portrays three that are quite admirable, seeking only to achieve, discover, and produce; and one\u00a0(The Cartel) which has no compunction about killing and coercing. This is the sort of food for thought that can be quite\u00a0constructive in today\u2019s socio-political-cultural environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

SANDRA NEWMAN\u2019S JULIA<\/a>
\n<\/b>
\nGeorge Orwell\u2019s 1984,<\/em> an early inductee<\/a> into the Prometheus Hall of Fame, may be one of the wisest, greatest cautionary tales of the 20th century.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>So when Orwell\u2019s estate commissioned author Sandra Newman to write not a sequel but a companion piece reimagining from a feminist perspective this powerfully libertarian\/liberal critique of any form of totalitarianism, whether of the Left or the Right, it was a major literary event.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an excerpt from the review:<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the acclaim and reputation that Orwell\u2019s classic has attained and deserves, it would seem foolhardy for anyone to dare to write a sequel. After all, how could it possibly measure up?<\/p>\n

Inventive and imaginative but also utterly real and convincing in its well-chosen details, Julia\u00a0<\/i>succeeds against the odds as a fresh yet darkly familiar companion to 1984. Not only does this companion piece expose the horrors of authoritarianism carried to an extreme, but it also explicitly underlines the virtues of freedom in making life livable.<\/p>\n

By making the central character Julia (in Orwell\u2019s 1984<\/em>, the largely one-dimensional lover of bureaucrat Winston Smith), Newman\u2019s novel adds a woman\u2019s proto-feminist perspective with new insights enriching and deepening Orwell\u2019s dystopian vision of Newspeak, Thought Police, Thoughtcrime, Two-Minutes Hate rallies, constant telescreen surveillance, ever-shrinking dictionaries, collectivist one-Party rule and Oceana\u2019s dizzyingly endless and ever-changing War with Eurasia today and Eastasia tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Newman\u2019s nuanced retelling not only exposes the horrific evils and cruel excesses of tyranny but also reminds us of the resilience of many people even while everyday life is seemingly crushing them under the boots of dictators.<\/p>\n

From the black markets that give the desperate food and other small comforts to the hidden relationships that sprout underfoot like stray flowers in barren wastelands, Newman finds the intrinsic connections among life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.<\/p>\n

Like Orwell, Newman eloquently and chillingly dramatizes how unchecked dictatorship, reinforced with thought control, propaganda and Puritanical repression, always strives to stamp out any remnants of individuality.<\/p>\n

Anything it can\u2019t control or anything that might become a threat is anathema to authoritarian systems \u2013 from the individual and the family to love and the untamed currents of sexuality inside us all.”<\/p>\n

NAOMI KRITZER\u2019S LIBERTY\u2019S DAUGHTER<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Even when a speculative novel offers a serious critique of libertarianism, it can be worth a read by libertarians and freedom-loving SF\/fantasy fans.<\/p>\n

Especially when the author plays fair, revealing both the possibilities and pluses of liberty as well as its potential downsides.<\/p>\n

Case in point: Naomi Kritzer\u2019s Liberty\u2019s Daughter, <\/i>a 2024 Best Novel nominee that sparked thoughtful debate among Prometheus judges.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an excerpt from the review:<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s nice to see more sf writers exploring various visions of a fully free future \u2013 even writers who aren\u2019t avowed libertarians.<\/p>\n

Well-written and well-paced, with believable characters, an interesting plot and setting and a controversial theme,\u00a0Liberty\u2019s Daughter\u00a0explores the drawbacks and benefits of a constellation of linked seasteading communities, most set up with libertarian rationales.<\/p>\n

Rather than portraying an outright dystopia, Kritzer dramatizes the higher levels of cooperation and resilience required to live and work within such a minimal-government or no-government framework.<\/p>\n

Moreover, Kritzer recognizes that crime, deception and corruption sadly are predictable and inevitable in any human society. So the real issues and questions for her characters involve how they respond to such eventualities and address their society\u2019s flaws.<\/p>\n

At the center of the twisty story is a young libertarian-spirited heroine (one surprisingly similar to a Heinlein-juvenile protagonist, like the title characters in Friday or Podkayne of Mars).<\/p>\n

Beck displays the decency, honesty and concern for justice of a young and conscientious individualist who strives against the odds to right some wrongs committed under duress or under abusive so-called \u201ccontract.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kritzer also dramatically compares her seasteading communities (such as minarchist-governed Min or anarchist Lib) with the highly regulated and paternalistic government of the United States \u2013 and finds all to have various pluses and minuses.<\/p>\n

Liberty\u2019s Daughter\u00a0<\/i>implicitly respects individual choice as a foundation of cooperation and civility. But Kritzer suggests that individual choice has its limits, too, especially when the choices are unethical and cross the libertarian boundary between consent and coercion.<\/p>\n

Even if Kritzer may have started out to dramatize the defects she perceives in a libertarian society, her novel ends up showing that such bad behavior can be countered effectively \u2013 even in a society without government (or with an extremely limited government, as many libertarians advocate).<\/p>\n

However the general public may react to this novel \u2013 and some might be surprised to learn that libertarians don\u2019t approve of the bad behavior depicted, and don\u2019t believe that it would arise in a lawful free society, at least anywhere close to such an extent \u2013 objective and open-minded readers of Liberty\u2019s Daughter will recognize the story\u2019s intriguing and persuasive examples of how voluntary private and social behavior can enforce norms even when laws are minimal or non-existent.”<\/p>\n

Note: Also check out Part 1<\/a> and Part 2<\/a> of our end-of-year Best of the Blog series.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE PROMETHEUS AWARDS:<\/b><\/p>\n

* Prometheus winners:\u00a0<\/b>For the full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees \u2013 including the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards \u2013 visit the enhanced\u00a0Prometheus Awards page<\/a>\u00a0on the LFS website, which now includes convenient links to all published essay-reviews in our Appreciation series explaining why each of more than 100 past winners since 1979 fits the awards\u2019 distinctive dual focus on both quality and liberty.<\/p>\n

* Read \u201cThe Libertarian History of Science Fiction,\u201d<\/a> an essay in the international magazine\u00a0Quillette<\/i>\u00a0that favorably highlights the Prometheus Awards, the Libertarian Futurist Society and the significant element of libertarian sf\/fantasy in the evolution of the modern genre.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Watch videos of past Prometheus Awards ceremonies (including the recent 2023 ceremony<\/a> with inspiring and amusing speeches by Prometheus-winning authors Dave Freer<\/a> and Sarah Hoyt)<\/a>, Libertarian Futurist Society panel discussions with noted sf authors and leading libertarian writers, and other LFS programs on the Prometheus Blog\u2019s\u00a0Video page.<\/a><\/p>\n

* Check out the Libertarian Futurist Society\u2019s Facebook page<\/a> for comments, updates and links to Prometheus Blog posts.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Join us!<\/b> To help sustain the Prometheus Awards and support a cultural and literary strategy to appreciate and honor freedom-loving fiction, \u00a0join<\/a> the Libertarian Futurist Society, a non-profit all-volunteer association of freedom-loving sf\/fantasy fans.<\/p>\n

Libertarian futurists believe that culture matters. We understand that the arts and literature can be vital in envisioning a freer and better future – and in some ways can be even more powerful than politics in the long run, by imagining better visions of the future incorporating peace, prosperity, progress, tolerance, justice, positive social change, and mutual respect for each other\u2019s rights, human dignity, individuality and peaceful choices.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Michael Grossberg While most reviews published on the Prometheus blog tend to focus on our Best Novel or Best Classic Fiction finalists or winners, other works deserve attention, too. As time permits, and when nominated (or nominatable) works capture our attention and stimulate both enjoyment and further thoughts, we strive to bring it to … Continue reading Best of the blog 2024, part three: Reviews of Naomi Kritzer\u2019s controversial Liberty\u2019s Daughter, Wil McCarthy\u2019s first-contact sequel Beggar\u2019s Sky, Sandra Newman\u2019s Orwell-inspired Julia, and Salman Rushdie\u2019s liberal\/libertarian novel Victory City\u2028<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2353,1862,1125],"tags":[1540,1780,59,1338,2257,2245,1267,1345,2156,1484],"class_list":["post-8424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-george-orwell","category-updates","tag-beggars-sky","tag-best-of-the-blog","tag-george-orwell","tag-julia","tag-libertys-daughter","tag-naomi-kritzer","tag-salman-rushdie","tag-sandra-newman","tag-victory-city","tag-wil-mccarthy"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe8nGl-2bS","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8424"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8468,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8424\/revisions\/8468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}