A People's Future of the United States: Speculative Fiction from 25 Extraordinary Writers

How it reads

A People's Future of the United States: Speculative Fiction from 25 Extraordinary Writers is science fiction (speculative fiction anthology, specifically), and its dominant mood is hopeful. Whatever it puts its people through, it believes things can get better. The pace is moderate — neither a page-turner nor a slow burn — so it holds up whether you read it in long sittings or short ones.

It's set in several locations, in the future, told in the first person by several narrators. Its central concerns are power and politics, justice and survival. In weight it's heavy and literary — denser, more serious, and more demanding of you.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending is bittersweet: it resolves, but at a price. At 432 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's moderately known: read by plenty of people, but not a household name.