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The Man In The High Castle Paperback – January 24, 2012
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In this Hugo Award–winning alternative history classic—the basis for the Amazon Original series—the United States lost World War II and was subsequently divided between the Germans in the East and the Japanese in the West.
It’s America in 1962. Slavery is legal once again. The few Jews who still survive hide under assumed names. In this world, we meet characters like Frank Frink, a dealer of counterfeit Americana who is himself hiding his Jewish ancestry; Nobusuke Tagomi, the Japanese trade minister in San Francisco, unsure of his standing within the bureaucracy and Japan's with Germany; and Juliana Frink, Frank's ex-wife, who may be more important than she realizes.
These seemingly disparate characters gradually realize their connections to each other just as they realize that something is not quite right about their world. And it seems as though the answers might lie with Hawthorne Abendsen, a mysterious and reclusive author, whose best-selling novel describes a world in which the US won the War... The Man in the High Castle is Dick at his best, giving readers a harrowing vision of the world that almost was.
“The single most resonant and carefully imagined book of Dick’s career.”—New York Times
- Print length288 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateJanuary 24, 2012
- Dimensions5.31 x 0.67 x 8 inches
- ISBN-100547572484
- ISBN-13978-0547572482
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From the Back Cover
It's America in 1962. Slavery is legal once again. The few Jews who still survive hide under assumed names. In San Francisco, the I Ching is as common as the Yellow Pages. All because some twenty years earlier the United States lost a war—and is now occupied by Nazi Germany and Japan.
This harrowing, Hugo Award-winning novel is the work that established Philip K. Dick as an innovator in science fiction while breaking the barrier between science fiction and the serious novel of ideas. In it Dick offers a haunting vision of history as a nightmare from which it may just be possible to wake.
Winner of the Hugo Award
Over a career that spanned three decades, Philip K. Dick (1928-1982) wrote 121 short stories and 45 novels, establishing himself as one of the most visionary authors of the twentieth century. His work is included in The Library of America and has been translated into more than 25 languages. Eleven works have been adapted to film, including Blade Runner (based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), Total Recall, Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly.
About the Author
Over a writing career that spanned three decades, PHILIP K. DICK (1928–1982) published 36 science fiction novels and 121 short stories in which he explored the essence of what makes man human and the dangers of centralized power. Toward the end of his life, his work turned to deeply personal, metaphysical questions concerning the nature of God. Eleven novels and short stories have been adapted to film, notably Blade Runner (based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), Total Recall, Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly, as well as television's The Man in the High Castle. The recipient of critical acclaim and numerous awards throughout his career, including the Hugo and John W. Campbell awards, Dick was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2005, and between 2007 and 2009, the Library of America published a selection of his novels in three volumes. His work has been translated into more than twenty-five languages.
Product details
- Publisher : Mariner Books Classics; Reissue edition (January 24, 2012)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 288 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0547572484
- ISBN-13 : 978-0547572482
- Item Weight : 7.7 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.31 x 0.67 x 8 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #16,002 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #61 in Alternate History Science Fiction (Books)
- #185 in TV, Movie & Game Tie-In Fiction
- #1,575 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Over a writing career that spanned three decades, Philip K. Dick (1928-1982) published 36 science fiction novels and 121 short stories in which he explored the essence of what makes man human and the dangers of centralized power. Toward the end of his life, his work turned toward deeply personal, metaphysical questions concerning the nature of God. Eleven novels and short stories have been adapted to film; notably: Blade Runner (based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), Total Recall, Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly. The recipient of critical acclaim and numerous awards throughout his career, Dick was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2005, and in 2007 the Library of America published a selection of his novels in three volumes. His work has been translated into more than twenty-five languages.
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Perhaps the first thing to be aware of is that the novel is leisurely and relatively free of dramatic action. The main "action" occurs between the characters' ears--it is the inner monologues and terse dialogues where most of the action occurs. Despite often being held up as an exemplar of the genre of alternate history, I'd even go so far as to say that the novel isn't even really a "thought exercise" in the sense of exploring answers to the question of: "If the Axis powers won the war, what would things be like?" I'd argue that this is where the TV series shines--imagining such an alternate reality and setting characters loose in such a setting, with attending assassinations and intrigues. This is not to say that PKD is not interested in such issues, and he has well thought-out detail as to how the Allied powers could have lost, and what the dynamics in the upper echelons of US and German politics would've been before, during, and after the war. But to focus on questions like "I wonder what Japanese-occupied San Francisco would be like?" would only be a superficial reading of what PKD wants the reader to think about--the setting is the vehicle, not the destination. Dick's interests lie in broader and more universal issues like "What is reality?" "What is authenticity?" "What does it mean to be human, and what is humanity?" These are themes that repeat themselves over and over in his works, and as a result his books are best savored rather than rushed through just to find out "what happens next".
As a result, Dick's works (such as this one) are more philosophy than they are suspense and adventure. There is action, but Dick is more interested in meaning, motivation, and aftermath than pure cause and effect. There are answers, but they are often ambiguous and open to interpretation, like the lines in the I Ching. And, as such, this book will not speak to everyone--I imagine some fans of the TV show might not like the book, and vice versa. Personally, I like them both, but for different reasons--the book is perhaps the yin to the TV show's yang. That said, I wish the TV show had a little more of the book's philosophizing, and as a reader I wouldn't mind if the book had a little more of the TV show's action and exploration of the alternate history setting. What I would hope, though, is that fans of the TV show who are skeptical of the book give it a chance, just like Tagomi and the piece of Edfrank jewelry he contemplates first with no expectations, despair, and only a small, blind grasping at hope ... the hope that perhaps it *will* speak to him, transform him, and sure enough, without even realizing it ... it does.
Most refreshing, was PKD’s choice of setting the story in a timeline after World War II. He establishes a plot just far enough along that the main historical players are still walking around in the background, which roots the story into the reader’s subconscious. Yet, the world has moved on from active conflict. The tale centers around a society that is getting on with things. A drawback for this is that he’s not giving you much action like you might normally get in an alternate history centered around World War II.
That said, there is always some violence lurking in the background (on the other side of reality or the other side of a door). The story is full of gamesmanship, surreptitious politics and cultural conflicts. However, as noted by other reviewers, this is mostly in the inner monologues of the Point-of-View, characters, which proves fascinating as the characters continually strategize and second guess their ways through the surrounding clash of cultures.
This book felt very different when compared to some of the other works by PKD I have read (not many). The prose felt the tightest and most polished I’ve seen from him. That said, PKD seemed to make a purposeful, stylistic choice when building out the voice for the individual characters and he wrote many of them in a staccato, broken-type of prose when monologuing their internal thoughts. This gave the sentences an “alien-like” feel and threw off the reading a bit, but was not too distracting. The distinction between thoughts and dialog also served as a continual reminder to the reader that the current reality is not the same reality that they themselves inhabit.
In typical PKD fashion there is a never-ending stripping away of reality’s onion skin layers. Behind everything going on, someone or some thing is driving the currents of life in different directions. The characters, at times, all feel lost and flailing among the forces around them—but then again—don’t we all have these moments?
To find order and meaning, many of the characters turn to an ancient Chinese divination book that acts as an oracle. The randomizing patterns in this tome make reference to philosophical expositions which can put a certain “lens” on current events or things to come. Yet, as with most fortunetelling, interpretation is everything. PKD does manage to find a way to use this device in a masterful and unconventional way and tie many of the plot points together. The denouement is simply bursting with all the existential genius which this author is famous for. Just a great picture of how much, seemingly unrelated things can affect other things.
So much of this story is focused on the individual. So readers looking for Nazi showdowns against Imperial Japan might be a bit disappointed. There is action in this book and it is powerful and pointed when it happens, but as I said previously, it is used sparingly. Instead, PKD uses the historical and cultural ques of the Axis powers to build his world in a framework that echoes the existential struggles facing his characters.
As each of the individuals struggles to find their place in the world, so too do the new nations ebb and flow in living reality (or unreality), finding their new place on the changed landscape.
This is well worth a read and probably a re-read. PKD’s prose is not intimidating, though it may put off some at first, it always compliments the heavier philosophies running beneath the surfaces of his works. The Man in the High Castle is no different. However, it feels much tighter. The ending though, is probably typical of a PKD work. A great read for a clear mind, but not necessarily a casual get away.
Podcast: If you enjoy my review (or this topic) this book and the movie based on it were further discussed/debated in a lively discussion on my podcast: "No Deodorant In Outer Space". The podcast is available on iTunes, Tune-In Radio, Stitcher, Google Play Music, YouTube or our website.
Top reviews from other countries
Reviewed in Brazil on December 20, 2022
I shall look forward to reading more of this author's works.














