As a writer and researcher I read extensively as part of my job but I still take time to read for pleasure. Some of my favorite novels are those where good guys take on a corrupt and all powerful government....and win. Because this (regretfully) seldom happens in the real world, these are usually science fiction novels. Too many people think of science fiction as being only for technophiles and science geeks. But the novels I'm talking about are light on technology and scientific discussions. Rather, they are about real people who happen to live in the future. The novel I'm reading now is a good example of that genre. Here's the book description...
Meet Peter LaNague...citizen of the planet Tolive, devotee of the Kyfho philosophy, revolutionary agent provocateur. But LaNague is planning a unique revolution -- one that not only topples the entrenched Outworld Imperium but fundamentally alters every Outworlder's concept of government as well. To accomplish this he must ally himself with a madman, trust the word of the last of Sol System's robber barons, make incisive use of the consummate warriors from the planet Flint without letting them run amok, confound at every turn the omnipresent forces of the Imperium, and every now and then make it rain money. But those are the easy parts. His greatest challenge will be to see his plan through to successful completion without becoming the very enemy he has vowed to destroy.
Some of my other fav books with similar themes are:
Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Robert A. Heinlein's tale of the rebellion of the former Lunar penal colony against the Lunar Authority that controls it from Earth.
Pallas by L. Neal Smith. The story of Emerson Ngu, who engineers his own escape from a totalitarian communist collective and discovers a new way of life outside the compound's Rimfence.
Alongside Night by Neal Schulman. This is a novel that gives one hope for a better, freer society.
If you haven't liked science fiction before, but like novels about political philosophy, courage, and the struggle for human freedom, you might want to try these.
