Jewish Fantasy & Science Fiction Book Club

Our exploration of Jewish fantasy and science fiction continues with The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick:

In this Hugo Award–winning alternative history classic — the basis for the Amazon streaming 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 U.S. won the war…

Join in the conversation at our regular Zoom link — and spread the word to any guests; all are warmly invited to join! (And consider watching the Amazon miniseries to compare and contrast with the book.)