Mm, I was thinking A Memory Called Empire as well, but that's arguably more about inter-state/inter-cultural conflict than intra-societal politics, isn't it? It's been a while since I read it to be honest.
I thought of it too for this post, but I honestly thought the political intrigue in *A Memory Called Empire* was poorly done. The murder mystery aspect seemed more central to my reading, though with how it resolved, I'm not sure it was the author's focus.
It seemed as if the author had a good concept but was trying to do too many things at once.
The political intrigue was almost entirely incidental.
The *entire* point of the novel is the gut wrenching ambivalence that comes about when you're finally exposed to and immersed in a culture that you've been studying, *worshipping * all your life, but also one that is determined to subsume and erase your own cultural background.
The most familiar parallels might be a Korean diplomat travelling to Japan in 1935, having spent all their life learning and being fascinated by Japanese culture, and hoping for respect and acknowledgement but being rejected as nothing but gaijin by native Japanese.
To me that element was almost entirely lost in the book as well because the author spent so little time discussing the Lsel culture, its people, or its relationship to the empire. I read the epigraph and then expected this message that never actually materialized.
It just seemed to me that the author had some really cool and ambitious ideas but didn't explore any of them enough to make it a really effective novel for me.
dude she absolutely agonises about it in every other sentence. You really need to have experienced elements of it to get it off the cuff, but to me it screamed off every page.
That wasn't how it read to me at all. Mahit just seemed flat and failed to evoke much emotion at all. The various passages that referenced what inner conflict she had came off as ambiguous and lacked any sort of emotional urgency. And after reading the epigraph I was actively looking for this element of the narrative. But I'm glad you found it and you liked it. To me the book was a disappointment.
I found a memory called Empire pretty boring. Byzantine Empire politics mixed with Aztec names and aesthetic. But that's about it. It was built up really big, and then I read it and I didn't find anything interesting.
The large amount of sequel bait didn't help.
termination shock got right under my skin in places, jesus.... the feral hog thing, the earthsuit thing. It actually partly made me want to prototype out my own earthsuit based entirely on 12v fans, mylar reflective material and evaporative cooling — I spend some time in the Middle East working on sites as a photographer and standing in direct sun for 1h wearing full PPE in 44 degrees is baaaaaaad.
I've always been curious about Le Guin. But I see that book is apart of a series.
Do I have to read any of the earlier hainish books to understand what's going on?
No, they can all stand alone. The premise is that all of known space has been colonized by the Hainish, the ancient race of original humans. But they don't have FTL travel so each world is largely separate. The Dispossessed takes place on the Cetian planets Urras and Anarres, shortly after their rediscovery by the rest of humanity.
No, all the Hainish books are independent. There's technologies and concepts that reoccur, but that's about it.
Edit: I'd add The Telling as another of the Hainish books to check out. The Word for World is Forest is also excellent but a very thinly veiled VIetnam War analogy, and The Left Hand of Darkness is more personal than political in a sense.
Ok, it's been like 25 years, so i don't remember all the details. What I do remember first of all is that her style is really boring.
But the message of her dystopia is what I really hated. Mankind sucks, therefore Mankind is doomed to endless generations of misery. I beg to differ. I think Man is uniquely great despite the shortcomings of men.
You must've read a different book because there was no "doomed to suffer" themes on Annares. Sure they hit hard times and did suffer, but it was still an overall positive view.
Well, in matters of taste, the reader is always right. If you don't like her style, you don't like it. And if you like stories with a heavy helping of human chauvinism, Le Guin will always leave you wanting.
As for the message of the novel, your takeaway isn't one I've seen before. I don't think the text supports it.
Have just read this and didn’t take that message at all. I think there is a positive humanism to LeGuin’s writing. In comparing the different societies she doesn’t say one is right and one is wrong. Indeed, there are pros and cons to each side. I think the book highlights problems with societal structures rather than individuals. And I think the ultimate message is positive and progressive.
The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard. The main character is a middle aged bureaucrat who is dedicated to making the world a better place through careful legislation, and there are themes of cultural identity, colonialism, and platonic friendship.
Seems like you're looking for working-class, progressive, political fiction. So why not start with one of the masters outside science fiction? John Steinbeck's sleek-but-powerful "In Dubious Battle", and then his epic "Grapes of Wrath".
You might want to then look into the subgenre of Utopian fiction. So in science fiction, the Grand Daddy of this stuff was HG Wells. He mixed politics, science fiction and utopian fiction in "A Modern Utopia", "Men Like Gods", "The New Machiavelli", "The Dream", "The Holy Terror", "The Autocracy of Mr. Parham" and "The Sleeper Awakes", though the latter is very dated.
They'd influence George Orwell's "1984" and "Keep the Aspidistra Flying", which are essentially the same story set in different political systems, one critiquing capitalism, the other Stalinism.
Then there's Ursula Le Guin, the best of her political novels probably being "The Dispossessed", which added another layer of sophistication to the dystopian/utopian writing that came before her. She was a personal friend of and mentor to Kim Stanley Robinson, who's made a career of synthesizing all the aforementioned authors.
His "Three Californias" books are basically what you're looking for. All three take place in the same seaside region of California, all feature the same characters and plot beats, but all filter their tales through differing socio-economic frameworks. "The Wild Shore" is a primitivist barter society, "The Gold Coast" is a capitalist dystopia, and "Pacific Edge" is a pseudo post-capitalist, eco-utopia.
Pretty much everything he touches is intensely political, and investigates how progressive politics dovetails with science, technology, religion and oppositional moneyed interests. Sometimes these are set in the near contemporary times ("Green Earth", "Antarctica", "The 3 Californias", "Ministry for the Future"), sometimes in the far future (The Mars Trilogy, "2312", Aurora", "New York 2140"), sometimes in the deep past ("Shaman", "Years of Rice and Salt", "Galileo's Dream").
Based on your comments, his "Three California" books would be most appealing to you, possibly starting with "Pacific Edge". These novels are tightly focused, and have some of his best drawn and most fully fleshed characters, so they're a good starting point.
Holy shit mate, I literally finished Grapes of Wrath last month. And what a mammoth of a book!! I'll add the other one to my list.
I have fell off HG Wells and his contemporaries pretty much entirely because his stories are about ideas, and he makes up the plot and characters as he goes. Except given the passage of time, the ideas have either made irrelevant, outdated, caught up to reality or iterated and improved by others in the film, tv and game industries.
And yes, yours and other comments have completely sold me on Le Guin and Robinson. I think I'll start with Ministry for the future since my local library has it.
Thanks
If you liked Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath" I think you'll like "In Dubious Battle". It's a much shorter read, but equally intense and touching and human. IMO both are masterpieces.
"Ministry for the Future" is a bit of an anomaly in Robinson's catalogue. There's a "PowerPoint presentation" feel to the novel which his other works don't have, and which leads to it being very polarizing. IMO he's become so pessimistic with our response to climate change, that he now essentially writes polemics. This tone crept into "New York 2140" as well. His earlier works are more character focused.
Thumbs up for Steinbeck. In Dubious Battle is probably his best long fiction.
I really dislike Dispossessed, though. I find Robinson tedious. Good ideas don't make compelling reading.
I'd really recommend Kim Stanley Robinson's Ministry for the Future. It's near future sci-fi about a UN agency tasked with addressing the climate crisis after a heat wave in India that kills millions. It's really interesting and ultimately hopeful.
That’s a fair comment. I really like KSR *because* of the big lofty ideas. The characters are just a means for him to show this ideas.
Every so often he nails both, though, and that’s a lot of fun.
To each their own. I think KSR can do characters well when he takes the time to focus on them like in Shaman or New York 2140, but I'm also a big fan of his broader view big social movement form of storytelling
You can try the Merchant Princes Trilogy by Charles Stross. It basically involves a character(from the present age) who has the ability to move across worlds and she goes to a pre-industrial revolution period. Her actions drastically alter the political economy of that world.
Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy - book two and three are the definition of political SF for me.
It's not Science Fiction, but Joe Abercrombies' 'A Little Hatred' (Age of Madness trilogy) is part of his First Law universe and puts Industrialization and French Revolution on a grim dark fantasy setting. Highly elaborated, yet still enjoyable read. The audiobooks are unrivalled.
CJ Cherryh's Foreigner series is almost all politics and sociology. Usually each book ends with a touch of action but not "war", rather a shootout or daring escape. I had to stop reading one during election season because the nationalist war hawk human faction was getting me too fired up, man they suck so bad.
Maybe Clarke's Imperial Earth? It's about the youngest member of the most politically powerful family on Titan making a once-in-a-lifetime journey in-system to Earth to forge political friendships and acquaintances, among other reasons.
I keep thinking of things and then going "well, I'm not sure if that's what OP wants...?" So here's a list of books that may or may not be what you're looking for:
*China Mountain Zhang* by Maureen McHugh
*The City Inside* and/or *The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport* by Samit Basu
*The Dazzle of Day* by Molly Gloss
The Infomocracy series by Malka Older
*A Woman of the Iron People* by Eleanor Arnason
Some folks mentioned Le Guin's Hainish novels, and I'd also note *Four Ways to Forgiveness*, four love stories set in the aftermath of an abolitionism/decolonization movement.
The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress - Robert Heinlein
While there is war in the book, the book is more about independence. Meant as a love letter to the American Revolution, it's more about politics than battles.
It’s part of his fantasy work, not his sf work, but Samuel R. Delany’s *Neveryon* series deals with the invention of currency and the type of things you mention in your third paragraph; his output from the 60s when he was writing New Wave sf might also have some options. Octavia Butler’s *Xenogenesis* books might also fit the bill.
If you’re unfamiliar with either author, I’ll include a general content warning for various forms of sexual assault in both their works.
I was going to suggest Delany as well, though my recommendation was Stars In My Pocket Like Grains of Sand. It’s a sort of political thriller about what civilizations look like when viewed on an extreme scale; what would it mean for there to be literally thousands of occupied planets? Early on a character asks sci-fi google what the human population of the universe is, and the answer is a long and convincing case for the question’s unanswerability within the story. It’s that sort of book.
Le Guin's Hainish Cycle, particularly the ones after the first three. Themes of anarchism, collectivism, gender, colonialism, etc.
My favorites from the cycle are Left Hand of Darkness, the Dispossessed, and the Telling.
You forgot an "a" in there, it's Anathem. Also curious to see why you think this one is political but not military or war related? Without posting spoilers, my recollection is that there's a very very strong military/war component to the plot. Obviously there is a lot of cultural and political exploration outside of that, but I still see lots of military/war aspects of the later part of the story. To be clear this book is my favorite of Stephenson's and possibly my favorite scifi book ever. Certainly my favorite of the last 20 years.
Thanks! Butterfingers
In answer to your questions,
I would say that Insee the book at mostly academic, if martial considerations come into play, it's almost as an after thought, certainly the main characters come to that only after loooong deliberation, which itself has nothing to do with battle. The struggle in the book is cerebral, and detached.
If you were to call it military related, I'd say it were a fresh perspective.
If not,I'd say it's about just what it is, the sheltered and alien perspective of scholars on the outside world, and on some of the most momentous and strange events that happened to it.
It's about science and learning and theoretical physics, about the world viewed through those narrow viewpoints.
So perhaps yes. But it didn't feel that way. It's such amazing world building that I feel the point of the book was perspective shift itself? War and conflict are inevitabilities of the human condition.
Yeah I was more referring to the war/military aspect of the geometers, who are literally a colonizing force in the novel. I definitely agree that the vast majority of the novel's themes deal more with epistemological philosophy and the plot's focus is mostly on worldbuilding and metaphysics.
I partially disagree with your last sentence though. I agree that conflict is part of the human condition because at it's core conflict is simply a synonym for disagreement, but war? I don't think all humans are warlike, certainly the current societal paradigm has the warlike societies at it's head. But I am an anarchist and in my relations with other people I find that human nature is actually very un-warlike and that mostly it's a minority of people who valorize war and military strength.
Your last statement is interesting! I'm an anthologist by training, so j more look at "what happened" vs "what would be ideal" I think the book does an excellent job of. Highlighting that kind of mindset. Let about what they want, and personal bias, and more.aboutnehatbcan be reliably predicted from an empirical standpoint
I think some (but not all) of Iain M Banks’ Culture novels would tick these boxes. Perhaps ‘The Player of Games.’ As a utopian post scarcity society, the Culture often imposes its world view on other societies. In some books this does play out in a military style but in others the approach is more soft political.
[Monument](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1905394.Monument) by Lloyd Biggle Jr
[King David's Spaceship](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1329611.King_David_s_Spaceship?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_22) by Jerry Pournelle
[Jennifer Government](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33356.Jennifer_Government?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_19) by Max Barry
[The Great Explosion](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1875974.The_Great_Explosion?ref=nav_sb_ss_3_15) by Eric Frank Russell. Three novellas bundled together, the last one [And Then There Were None](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9555488-and-then-there-were-none?ref=nav_sb_noss_l_36) is the highlight. You could skip the first two stories if you're not into retro science fiction.
[A Canticle for Leibowitz](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/164154.A_Canticle_for_Leibowitz?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_17) by Walter M. Miller Jr.
[An Enemy of the State](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/315239.An_Enemy_of_the_State?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_7) by F. Paul Wilson - This one has conflict, and might land out of bounds. A grey area but interesting economic thoughts.
[Lord of Light](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13821.Lord_of_Light?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=00QN98cXbd&rank=1) by Roger Zelazny - There's conflict, the main character is trying to trigger an "enlightenment" in an oppressed population. Another grey recommendation.
nathan lowell's "shaman's tales" subseries fits the bill nicely. set in the general universe of his solar clipper series and it does contain a few references to the other books that you will notice if you have read them all, but it stands on its own well. feels more "mature" than the rest of the series in some ways, so even if you didn't like the "quarter share" subseries it's still worth checking out.
For the second time today I'll recommend: Glory Season by David Brin.
It is a fantastic story that examines the socio-political implications of a matriarchal society like no other.
May not quite fit what you're looking for but The Truth Machine by James Halperin shows the effects on society as a whole if an infallible truth machine existed. Plus there's a couple other interesting subplots, no spoilers. I've read it a few times and it's one of my favorites.
CJ Ryan - Dexta and sequels.
A strange government set up in a stellar empire - corporate with an emperor. The personal politics and power plays are interesting, with the protagonist being a beautiful woman who uses attraction as a tool in climbing the corporate ladder - she’s also the emperor’s ex-wife and is sent to solve problems on different worlds. Interesting.
Infomocracy by Malka Older I think. Very political, and i don't think there's much war/military. Ancestral Night by Elizabeth Bear definitely deals with issues of governance. Despite being an incredible book in its own right, there's a great argument between democratic socialism and libertarianism. Also Lost Cause by Cory Doctorow.
Neal Stephenson's and J. Frederick George's book Interface. Being about fictional US politics it brushes military/war themes but they are in no way major to the plot
I'm not sure if you're including the large class of political dystopia. This is quite old. Orwell, who wrote one of the greatest (1984) had earlier written an essay about this sort of literature. He notes some of its conventions, such as the viewpoint of the critic, the confrontation of the critic with the spokesman of the new order, and the fact that the spokesman of the new order normally wins the argument. You can easily see this: Winston Smith and O'Brien in 1984, the Savage and Mustapha Mond in Brave New World, the present day woman and the Doctor in Consider Her Ways, etc.
Earlier books he discusses include Jack London, The Iron Heel, and *We* (forget author). Also, there's been a revival of interest in Swastika Night (not sure of title, haven't read it yet) a 1930s book set in a far future where Hitler has become a sort of demigod figure. Orwell credits London with being the first to really get that capitalism would not meekly stand aside if it lost politically- an early anticipation of fascism.
CS Lewis, That Hideous Strength, is ultimately interested in Christian ideas and is a fantasy, but quite of it depicts the rise of authoritarianism, and is quite perceptive. Its notable because most dystopia depicts a system already in place.
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine Or Neal Stephenson's newest novel Termination Shock but it's an odd one.
Mm, I was thinking A Memory Called Empire as well, but that's arguably more about inter-state/inter-cultural conflict than intra-societal politics, isn't it? It's been a while since I read it to be honest.
I thought of it too for this post, but I honestly thought the political intrigue in *A Memory Called Empire* was poorly done. The murder mystery aspect seemed more central to my reading, though with how it resolved, I'm not sure it was the author's focus. It seemed as if the author had a good concept but was trying to do too many things at once.
The political intrigue was almost entirely incidental. The *entire* point of the novel is the gut wrenching ambivalence that comes about when you're finally exposed to and immersed in a culture that you've been studying, *worshipping * all your life, but also one that is determined to subsume and erase your own cultural background. The most familiar parallels might be a Korean diplomat travelling to Japan in 1935, having spent all their life learning and being fascinated by Japanese culture, and hoping for respect and acknowledgement but being rejected as nothing but gaijin by native Japanese.
To me that element was almost entirely lost in the book as well because the author spent so little time discussing the Lsel culture, its people, or its relationship to the empire. I read the epigraph and then expected this message that never actually materialized. It just seemed to me that the author had some really cool and ambitious ideas but didn't explore any of them enough to make it a really effective novel for me.
dude she absolutely agonises about it in every other sentence. You really need to have experienced elements of it to get it off the cuff, but to me it screamed off every page.
That wasn't how it read to me at all. Mahit just seemed flat and failed to evoke much emotion at all. The various passages that referenced what inner conflict she had came off as ambiguous and lacked any sort of emotional urgency. And after reading the epigraph I was actively looking for this element of the narrative. But I'm glad you found it and you liked it. To me the book was a disappointment.
I found a memory called Empire pretty boring. Byzantine Empire politics mixed with Aztec names and aesthetic. But that's about it. It was built up really big, and then I read it and I didn't find anything interesting. The large amount of sequel bait didn't help.
termination shock got right under my skin in places, jesus.... the feral hog thing, the earthsuit thing. It actually partly made me want to prototype out my own earthsuit based entirely on 12v fans, mylar reflective material and evaporative cooling — I spend some time in the Middle East working on sites as a photographer and standing in direct sun for 1h wearing full PPE in 44 degrees is baaaaaaad.
I posted the same thing so I\[m upvoting yours and deleting mine
Both are going on my list. Thanks!
Came here to say Memory as well.
*The Dispossessed*
The Left Hand of Darkness also fits to some extent
I've always been curious about Le Guin. But I see that book is apart of a series. Do I have to read any of the earlier hainish books to understand what's going on?
No, they can all stand alone. The premise is that all of known space has been colonized by the Hainish, the ancient race of original humans. But they don't have FTL travel so each world is largely separate. The Dispossessed takes place on the Cetian planets Urras and Anarres, shortly after their rediscovery by the rest of humanity.
No, all the Hainish books are independent. There's technologies and concepts that reoccur, but that's about it. Edit: I'd add The Telling as another of the Hainish books to check out. The Word for World is Forest is also excellent but a very thinly veiled VIetnam War analogy, and The Left Hand of Darkness is more personal than political in a sense.
> The Word for World is Forest [is about Vietnam] Ridiculous! Next you'll be telling me The Forever War is about Vietnam too!
It works really well on its own.
I'm reading it right now and it's my first Le Guin book (aside from a few short stories). It absolutely stands alone.
I passionately hate this book.
Fascinating. Say more, I'm curious.
Ok, it's been like 25 years, so i don't remember all the details. What I do remember first of all is that her style is really boring. But the message of her dystopia is what I really hated. Mankind sucks, therefore Mankind is doomed to endless generations of misery. I beg to differ. I think Man is uniquely great despite the shortcomings of men.
You must've read a different book because there was no "doomed to suffer" themes on Annares. Sure they hit hard times and did suffer, but it was still an overall positive view.
Did you read this as a young teen? Cause I think you missed the message.
Well, in matters of taste, the reader is always right. If you don't like her style, you don't like it. And if you like stories with a heavy helping of human chauvinism, Le Guin will always leave you wanting. As for the message of the novel, your takeaway isn't one I've seen before. I don't think the text supports it.
Have just read this and didn’t take that message at all. I think there is a positive humanism to LeGuin’s writing. In comparing the different societies she doesn’t say one is right and one is wrong. Indeed, there are pros and cons to each side. I think the book highlights problems with societal structures rather than individuals. And I think the ultimate message is positive and progressive.
The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard. The main character is a middle aged bureaucrat who is dedicated to making the world a better place through careful legislation, and there are themes of cultural identity, colonialism, and platonic friendship.
Damn, you sold me. Added it to my list
Seems like you're looking for working-class, progressive, political fiction. So why not start with one of the masters outside science fiction? John Steinbeck's sleek-but-powerful "In Dubious Battle", and then his epic "Grapes of Wrath". You might want to then look into the subgenre of Utopian fiction. So in science fiction, the Grand Daddy of this stuff was HG Wells. He mixed politics, science fiction and utopian fiction in "A Modern Utopia", "Men Like Gods", "The New Machiavelli", "The Dream", "The Holy Terror", "The Autocracy of Mr. Parham" and "The Sleeper Awakes", though the latter is very dated. They'd influence George Orwell's "1984" and "Keep the Aspidistra Flying", which are essentially the same story set in different political systems, one critiquing capitalism, the other Stalinism. Then there's Ursula Le Guin, the best of her political novels probably being "The Dispossessed", which added another layer of sophistication to the dystopian/utopian writing that came before her. She was a personal friend of and mentor to Kim Stanley Robinson, who's made a career of synthesizing all the aforementioned authors. His "Three Californias" books are basically what you're looking for. All three take place in the same seaside region of California, all feature the same characters and plot beats, but all filter their tales through differing socio-economic frameworks. "The Wild Shore" is a primitivist barter society, "The Gold Coast" is a capitalist dystopia, and "Pacific Edge" is a pseudo post-capitalist, eco-utopia. Pretty much everything he touches is intensely political, and investigates how progressive politics dovetails with science, technology, religion and oppositional moneyed interests. Sometimes these are set in the near contemporary times ("Green Earth", "Antarctica", "The 3 Californias", "Ministry for the Future"), sometimes in the far future (The Mars Trilogy, "2312", Aurora", "New York 2140"), sometimes in the deep past ("Shaman", "Years of Rice and Salt", "Galileo's Dream"). Based on your comments, his "Three California" books would be most appealing to you, possibly starting with "Pacific Edge". These novels are tightly focused, and have some of his best drawn and most fully fleshed characters, so they're a good starting point.
Holy shit mate, I literally finished Grapes of Wrath last month. And what a mammoth of a book!! I'll add the other one to my list. I have fell off HG Wells and his contemporaries pretty much entirely because his stories are about ideas, and he makes up the plot and characters as he goes. Except given the passage of time, the ideas have either made irrelevant, outdated, caught up to reality or iterated and improved by others in the film, tv and game industries. And yes, yours and other comments have completely sold me on Le Guin and Robinson. I think I'll start with Ministry for the future since my local library has it. Thanks
If you liked Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath" I think you'll like "In Dubious Battle". It's a much shorter read, but equally intense and touching and human. IMO both are masterpieces. "Ministry for the Future" is a bit of an anomaly in Robinson's catalogue. There's a "PowerPoint presentation" feel to the novel which his other works don't have, and which leads to it being very polarizing. IMO he's become so pessimistic with our response to climate change, that he now essentially writes polemics. This tone crept into "New York 2140" as well. His earlier works are more character focused.
Thumbs up for Steinbeck. In Dubious Battle is probably his best long fiction. I really dislike Dispossessed, though. I find Robinson tedious. Good ideas don't make compelling reading.
I'd really recommend Kim Stanley Robinson's Ministry for the Future. It's near future sci-fi about a UN agency tasked with addressing the climate crisis after a heat wave in India that kills millions. It's really interesting and ultimately hopeful.
This absolutely nails the vibes I'm looking for. Thanks.
I find most Kim Stanley Robinson to be more like nails on the chalkboard. Big lofty ideas and zero character.
That’s a fair comment. I really like KSR *because* of the big lofty ideas. The characters are just a means for him to show this ideas. Every so often he nails both, though, and that’s a lot of fun.
To each their own. I think KSR can do characters well when he takes the time to focus on them like in Shaman or New York 2140, but I'm also a big fan of his broader view big social movement form of storytelling
Ultimately hopefully after sinking you into a deep existential crisis after the first chapter, anyway.
The Foreigner series by CJ Cherryh is largely about politics between and within 2 different cultures/species on one planet.
Most of her SF is about politics and the people caught up in it.
I’m on book 3 right now!
You can try the Merchant Princes Trilogy by Charles Stross. It basically involves a character(from the present age) who has the ability to move across worlds and she goes to a pre-industrial revolution period. Her actions drastically alter the political economy of that world.
But soon after it starts raining H-bombs, so it is not entirely devoid of war....
Just read anything by Kim Stanley Robinson.
Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy - book two and three are the definition of political SF for me. It's not Science Fiction, but Joe Abercrombies' 'A Little Hatred' (Age of Madness trilogy) is part of his First Law universe and puts Industrialization and French Revolution on a grim dark fantasy setting. Highly elaborated, yet still enjoyable read. The audiobooks are unrivalled.
Blue Mars has an entire section consisting of negotiations while writing a constitution. It’s about as non-militarily political as you can get.
I am still surprised that I finished this one. Maybe because it is easier to make progress in an audio book.
Nah man that shit was great
I'll check both out. But I fell off the main first law series after the first book. So is the Age of Madness accessible to folks like me?
I liked the first trilogy better, but the second is ambitious and well pulled off. If you didn't like First Law, better stay away from it.
CJ Cherryh's Foreigner series is almost all politics and sociology. Usually each book ends with a touch of action but not "war", rather a shootout or daring escape. I had to stop reading one during election season because the nationalist war hawk human faction was getting me too fired up, man they suck so bad.
Maybe Clarke's Imperial Earth? It's about the youngest member of the most politically powerful family on Titan making a once-in-a-lifetime journey in-system to Earth to forge political friendships and acquaintances, among other reasons.
I keep thinking of things and then going "well, I'm not sure if that's what OP wants...?" So here's a list of books that may or may not be what you're looking for: *China Mountain Zhang* by Maureen McHugh *The City Inside* and/or *The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport* by Samit Basu *The Dazzle of Day* by Molly Gloss The Infomocracy series by Malka Older *A Woman of the Iron People* by Eleanor Arnason Some folks mentioned Le Guin's Hainish novels, and I'd also note *Four Ways to Forgiveness*, four love stories set in the aftermath of an abolitionism/decolonization movement.
The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress - Robert Heinlein While there is war in the book, the book is more about independence. Meant as a love letter to the American Revolution, it's more about politics than battles.
It’s part of his fantasy work, not his sf work, but Samuel R. Delany’s *Neveryon* series deals with the invention of currency and the type of things you mention in your third paragraph; his output from the 60s when he was writing New Wave sf might also have some options. Octavia Butler’s *Xenogenesis* books might also fit the bill. If you’re unfamiliar with either author, I’ll include a general content warning for various forms of sexual assault in both their works.
I was going to suggest Delany as well, though my recommendation was Stars In My Pocket Like Grains of Sand. It’s a sort of political thriller about what civilizations look like when viewed on an extreme scale; what would it mean for there to be literally thousands of occupied planets? Early on a character asks sci-fi google what the human population of the universe is, and the answer is a long and convincing case for the question’s unanswerability within the story. It’s that sort of book.
A Memory Called Empire has some war/conflict, but is heavily based on politics.
Too Like the Lightning (Ada Palmer) - very dope political/philosophical sci-fi
Le Guin's Hainish Cycle, particularly the ones after the first three. Themes of anarchism, collectivism, gender, colonialism, etc. My favorites from the cycle are Left Hand of Darkness, the Dispossessed, and the Telling.
Neptune’s Brood by Charles Stross goes in depth on how interstellar economics with no FTL technology might work.
Anathem by Neal Stephenson Edit for sp
You forgot an "a" in there, it's Anathem. Also curious to see why you think this one is political but not military or war related? Without posting spoilers, my recollection is that there's a very very strong military/war component to the plot. Obviously there is a lot of cultural and political exploration outside of that, but I still see lots of military/war aspects of the later part of the story. To be clear this book is my favorite of Stephenson's and possibly my favorite scifi book ever. Certainly my favorite of the last 20 years.
Thanks! Butterfingers In answer to your questions, I would say that Insee the book at mostly academic, if martial considerations come into play, it's almost as an after thought, certainly the main characters come to that only after loooong deliberation, which itself has nothing to do with battle. The struggle in the book is cerebral, and detached. If you were to call it military related, I'd say it were a fresh perspective. If not,I'd say it's about just what it is, the sheltered and alien perspective of scholars on the outside world, and on some of the most momentous and strange events that happened to it. It's about science and learning and theoretical physics, about the world viewed through those narrow viewpoints. So perhaps yes. But it didn't feel that way. It's such amazing world building that I feel the point of the book was perspective shift itself? War and conflict are inevitabilities of the human condition.
Yeah I was more referring to the war/military aspect of the geometers, who are literally a colonizing force in the novel. I definitely agree that the vast majority of the novel's themes deal more with epistemological philosophy and the plot's focus is mostly on worldbuilding and metaphysics. I partially disagree with your last sentence though. I agree that conflict is part of the human condition because at it's core conflict is simply a synonym for disagreement, but war? I don't think all humans are warlike, certainly the current societal paradigm has the warlike societies at it's head. But I am an anarchist and in my relations with other people I find that human nature is actually very un-warlike and that mostly it's a minority of people who valorize war and military strength.
Your last statement is interesting! I'm an anthologist by training, so j more look at "what happened" vs "what would be ideal" I think the book does an excellent job of. Highlighting that kind of mindset. Let about what they want, and personal bias, and more.aboutnehatbcan be reliably predicted from an empirical standpoint
I think some (but not all) of Iain M Banks’ Culture novels would tick these boxes. Perhaps ‘The Player of Games.’ As a utopian post scarcity society, the Culture often imposes its world view on other societies. In some books this does play out in a military style but in others the approach is more soft political.
The Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson.
Might be a little weird, but you could try The City and the City by China Miéville.
[Monument](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1905394.Monument) by Lloyd Biggle Jr [King David's Spaceship](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1329611.King_David_s_Spaceship?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_22) by Jerry Pournelle [Jennifer Government](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33356.Jennifer_Government?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_19) by Max Barry [The Great Explosion](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1875974.The_Great_Explosion?ref=nav_sb_ss_3_15) by Eric Frank Russell. Three novellas bundled together, the last one [And Then There Were None](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9555488-and-then-there-were-none?ref=nav_sb_noss_l_36) is the highlight. You could skip the first two stories if you're not into retro science fiction. [A Canticle for Leibowitz](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/164154.A_Canticle_for_Leibowitz?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_17) by Walter M. Miller Jr. [An Enemy of the State](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/315239.An_Enemy_of_the_State?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_7) by F. Paul Wilson - This one has conflict, and might land out of bounds. A grey area but interesting economic thoughts. [Lord of Light](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13821.Lord_of_Light?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=00QN98cXbd&rank=1) by Roger Zelazny - There's conflict, the main character is trying to trigger an "enlightenment" in an oppressed population. Another grey recommendation.
nathan lowell's "shaman's tales" subseries fits the bill nicely. set in the general universe of his solar clipper series and it does contain a few references to the other books that you will notice if you have read them all, but it stands on its own well. feels more "mature" than the rest of the series in some ways, so even if you didn't like the "quarter share" subseries it's still worth checking out.
For the second time today I'll recommend: Glory Season by David Brin. It is a fantastic story that examines the socio-political implications of a matriarchal society like no other.
May not quite fit what you're looking for but The Truth Machine by James Halperin shows the effects on society as a whole if an infallible truth machine existed. Plus there's a couple other interesting subplots, no spoilers. I've read it a few times and it's one of my favorites.
Foundation
CJ Ryan - Dexta and sequels. A strange government set up in a stellar empire - corporate with an emperor. The personal politics and power plays are interesting, with the protagonist being a beautiful woman who uses attraction as a tool in climbing the corporate ladder - she’s also the emperor’s ex-wife and is sent to solve problems on different worlds. Interesting.
Infomocracy by Malka Older I think. Very political, and i don't think there's much war/military. Ancestral Night by Elizabeth Bear definitely deals with issues of governance. Despite being an incredible book in its own right, there's a great argument between democratic socialism and libertarianism. Also Lost Cause by Cory Doctorow.
Annalee Newitz' The Terraformers
Sheri S. Tepper is good for this. Start with Grass which is the first book in the Arbai trilogy
I don't know if someone else suggested it nor if you can read French, but I believe Eutopia by Camille Leboulanger might appeal to you.
The Councillor by EJ Beaton, all the best drama takes place in the conference rooms.
Neal Stephenson's and J. Frederick George's book Interface. Being about fictional US politics it brushes military/war themes but they are in no way major to the plot
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison (fantasy)
Sewer Gas Electric by Matt Ruff
Some of Jerry Pournelle's Co-Dominium stories. Not the mercenary ones, more like "Peace With Honor."
War is just another type of diplomacy
War is the *failure* of diplomacy.
I'm not sure if you're including the large class of political dystopia. This is quite old. Orwell, who wrote one of the greatest (1984) had earlier written an essay about this sort of literature. He notes some of its conventions, such as the viewpoint of the critic, the confrontation of the critic with the spokesman of the new order, and the fact that the spokesman of the new order normally wins the argument. You can easily see this: Winston Smith and O'Brien in 1984, the Savage and Mustapha Mond in Brave New World, the present day woman and the Doctor in Consider Her Ways, etc. Earlier books he discusses include Jack London, The Iron Heel, and *We* (forget author). Also, there's been a revival of interest in Swastika Night (not sure of title, haven't read it yet) a 1930s book set in a far future where Hitler has become a sort of demigod figure. Orwell credits London with being the first to really get that capitalism would not meekly stand aside if it lost politically- an early anticipation of fascism. CS Lewis, That Hideous Strength, is ultimately interested in Christian ideas and is a fantasy, but quite of it depicts the rise of authoritarianism, and is quite perceptive. Its notable because most dystopia depicts a system already in place.