Plagues, famines and nuclear disasters have left Earth a third-world planet ruled by the iron hand of the Orbital Republics.
Yet this space superpower now threatens the independant asteroids of the Solar System Confederation. A dangerous shortage of life-sustaning volatiles will soon leave teh Confederation defenseless. But they've got one chance. Fuel a rebillion on Earth. Force the Republics to send down their reserves... leaving ther volatiles bases open to attack.
Saul Pareto, scholar, idealist and now undercover agent for the Confederation, suddenly finds himself flung into the backward society of twenty-second-century Earth. His mission: start the war between the dirtsiders and the skyboys...
Editorial Review
"A clever novel of ideas in action and their dire consequences." --Publishers Weekly
"Barnes carries us away...the way Heinlein used to do it." --Orson Scott Card
About the Author
John Barnes (born 1957) is an American science fiction author, whose stories often explore questions of individual moral responsibility within a larger social context. Social criticism is woven throughout his plots. The four novels in his Thousand Cultures series pose serious questions about the effects of globalization on isolated societies. Barnes holds a doctorate in theatre and for several years taught in Colorado, where he still lives.
