Those who have relegated Phillip K. Dick’s 1962 masterpiece The Man in the High Castle to the strange badlands of alternate history, a genre populated by and large with useless re-imaginings, missed out on the novel’s central question.  The Man in the High Castle is not about how the world would be different if the Axis powers had won the Second World War; it’s about how the people populating it would be the same.  No doubt, the world of Dick’s novel is dystopic but its populace remains painstakingly human.

The novel defies genre definition but will appeal to a number of readers.  Fans of thriller novels will enjoy the political conspiracies and secret identities revealed slowly throughout.

The characters of The Man in the High Castle are conflicted.  There is an American antiques dealer who sells pre-war antiques to strictly judging Japanese businessmen, a Jewish refugee disguised as a Swedish industrialist, a Japanese trade missioner stuck in San Francisco stuck in existential malaise and a novelist (much like Dick himself) who leaves his intricate plot up to chance.  All of these characters rely heavily on the divination of the I Ching, a book that determines the direction of their lives.  Dick himself used the I Ching to determine the outcome of The Man in the High Castle.

Regular thriller readers owe it to themselves to stretch their literary legs and let go of plots overly predetermined and plotted.  The Man in the High Castle has plenty of twists and turns but its focus is not the direct impact of specific plot points, it is an exploration of wide variety of characters and the internal effects of war and occupation.  Much like George Orwell’s 1984, the fantastic politically imaginative setting is only a device to explore the human condition.

Originally published in 1962, the book has seen many printings.  The Library of America edition is highly recommended; it contains three other Dick stories, including Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and is a strikingly beautiful tome.  Dick is the first science fiction writer to be included in The Library of America’s amazing collection.  It is certainly well deserved.