February 18 - Book Review Sunday, "Empire"

Starting today, I'm going to dedicate Sundays to short book reviews. Typically, my interests are technical, programming related books, science fiction, history and hard (science) fiction. On my nightstand, right now are "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson, "Dreaming in Code" by Scott Rosenberg, "Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamond and "Off Armageddon Reef" by David Weber. Recently finished are "Next" by Michael Chrichton that I'll review next Sunday and "Empire" by Orson Scott Card that I'll review today.

Empire is a kind of science fiction that I categorize as future history. This is a kind of science fiction that tells the story of the future without fantastic devices (no light sabres, for instance) or, at worst with only logical technical extrapolation. Empire relies on no technical devices. It tells a story of how the U.S. political landscape shifts rapidly in the next few years. Card posits that, far from the decadent Rome that the U.S. is usually compared to, the U.S. is about to enter it's real imperial phase such as the vibrant, expanding Rome. He also suggests that for this to happen the fundamental governmental organization must change and tells a tale of how that happens through implicit rather than explicit means. The findamental shift is that the U.S places even more power in the executive, making the president something like a benevelent dictator.

Other implicit shifts in American government have similarly taken place without explicit legislation, most notably the shift from states primacy prior to the American Civil war to Federal Primacy afterwards. In this book a similar although much shorter event occurs (led by a George Soros type of character.) At the end, a desire for a return to normalcy combined with some deft political maneuvering results in both very divided parties independently desiring the same person in the executive position. What happens next is, I certainly hope, the subject of another book.

As anyone who has read 'Ender's Game" or 'Folk of the Fringe" knows, Orson Scott Card is a captivating writer whose prose is also very easy to read. If I were to criticise this book, I'd say it is a little light on detail. However, I've recently been reading Neil Stephenson, so have perhaps become accustomed to the other extreme. Politically, I'd say this book leans right of center. And it is a political book. This book is clearly intended to make people think about where the country is headed. On his website, Orson Scott Card describes himself as a former Democrat who moved to the center after seeing how the Democratic party responded after the September 11 attacks. Having read some of his articles on his website, I'd say he move right of center consistent with the feel I get from this book.

Though the end did not result in the U.S. returning to democratic roots, I'd say that it felt moderately positive. It left the possibility that such an outcome could be a good thing. Hopefully a sequel will settle the outcome, at least in Card's universe. I'll buy it.