By David Brin
Wow! I really got into this story. 16 years after war ended the world (3 years of nuclear winter) it's around 2009 and most people are just trying to survive. Holonists are militia types who are trying to rule by force and create a new feudalism in Oregon.
Enter the hero Gordon Krantz a traveling minstrel who stumbles on an old postal truck, dons the uniform to stay warm, and begins the recreation of the US through lies? Well, yes. There are still those alive who remember what was lost and they are quite eager to bring back some semblance of the old normality. They jump to believe that the postal service had been restored.
The book is full of small societies lying to themselves and each other to keep things going. Gordon lie is telling everyone that back east the Restored US has put him in charge of starting up the postal service to restart lines of communication. He hits on a deeper truth. When does the lie cease and the truth begin. By restarting the postal service, saying that you are now part of the restored US, having many towns accept and follow this idea are you not making your lie become truth?
As a PA story this one didn't go to deep into what the leftover remains looked like. Corvallis is the town where they are trying to keep technology alive. Bullets seem to have survived fairly well. No this is a story about the fight to recreate society and who gets to determine which viewpoints and beliefs will rule.
The author David Brin has a lot of discussion about responsibility, how power attracts those who are corruptible, people with good in them struggle to accept their role in creating society, the responsibility of giving more of your self for the whole of humanity and not just your small part in the world. Thought provoking subjects indeed.
I was a little bit put of by the end confrontation in the book. Brin pulled out a deux es machina bit with the two soldiers. The ending leaves a bit of hope for the survival of humanity and the recreation of civilization. If you saw the movie The Postman
(which I vaguely remember as not holding my interest) try the book. It was an intriguing story.
