History Literature / TheManInTheHighCastle

* AmericaWonWorldWarII: Obviously, America ''doesn't'' win the war in this timeline, but the timeline's main point of divergence is Franklin Roosevelt's assassination, which meant that America stayed isolationist and didn't get involved in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, implying that the Allies never could have won the war without America's help.[[note]] Which is certainly true for Chiang Kai-Shek's Nationalist/Free China, which was completely dependent on American loans to survive after Soviet aid was withdrawn in 1941. US manpower also made an invasion of continental Europe by the British Commonwealth without too much use of non-white manpower or a WWI-style expenditure of blood possible. Finally, US lend-lease saved hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Soviet lives through various means - not least through the provision of food, which suffered after the Germans captured (and later razed when retreating) a third of the Soviet Union's farmland, the provision of combat vehicles in 1941-2 (when the obsolte tanks and fighters provided to the Soviets were literally better than nothing) and the provision of raw resources in 1944 (before liberated Soviet mines had been repaired). While defeat of the Soviet Union was far from guaranteed even if Japan joined the war against them, it was actually possible without American aid [[/note]]

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** By modern standards of alternate-history storytelling, the Nazis and Japanese conquering the USA by 1947 is rather unrealistic (even Hitler himself, in his long-term plans, thought conquering the USA would not be possible for the Germans until TheEighties). This is because Dick did not have access to much of the data about [=WW2=] that has become common knowledge since then but was still classified in TheSixties when he wrote the novel.

* HumanResources: Most of the African population is used for this. There's descriptions of African tribes being turned into "thousands of chemical heaps". And a disquieting reference to (from memory) lighters made from human bone.

* InterchangeableAsianCultures: Dick was lambasted by his Japanese translator for confusing "inferior" Chinese culture (Taoism, Confucianism, the I-Ching) with Japanese culture. The I-Ching at least gets lampshaded by [[{{Jerkass}} Chidan]] during one of his internal monologues, where he notes that the book the japanese have imposed on America isn't even a Japanese one.

* InterchangeableAsianCultures: Dick was lambasted by his Japanese translator for confusing "inferior" Chinese culture (Taoism, Confucianism, the I-Ching) with Japanese culture.

** By modern AH standards, the Nazis and Japanese conquering the USA by 1947 is rather unrealistic (even Hitler himself, in his long-term plans, thought conquering the USA would not be possible for the Germans until TheEighties). This is because Dick did not have access to much of the data about [=WW2=] that has become common knowledge since then but was still classified in TheSixties when he wrote the novel.

* AmericaWonWorldWarII: Inverted and Played Straight at the same time. Obviously, America ''doesn't'' win the war in this timeline, but the timeline's main point of divergence is Franklin Roosevelt's assassination, which meant that America stayed isolationist and didn't get involved in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, implying that the Allies never could have won the war without America's help.[[note]] Which is certainly true for Chiang Kai-Shek's Nationalist/Free China, which was completely dependent on American loans to survive after Soviet aid was withdrawn in 1941. US manpower also made an invasion of continental Europe by the British Commonwealth without too much use of non-white manpower or a WWI-style expenditure of blood possible. Finally, US lend-lease saved hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Soviet lives through various means - not least through the provision of food, which suffered after the Germans captured (and later razed when retreating) a third of the Soviet Union's farmland, the provision of combat vehicles in 1941-2 (when the obsolte tanks and fighters provided to the Soviets were literally better than nothing) and the provision of raw resources in 1944 (before liberated Soviet mines had been repaired). While defeat of the Soviet Union was far from guaranteed even if Japan joined the war against them, it was actually possible without American aid [[/note]]

* ALighterShadeOfBlack: Imperial Japan keeps its old ways, but their distant colonial rule is at least fairly negligent and it's nothing compared to what the Nazis are doing in their empire.
* AluminiumChristmasTrees: Trading cards themed around WarIsHell might seem like something Philip K. Dick invented for the book, but there were an real thing, and yes, they came with gum as described. The [[https://www.deanscards.com/c/503/1938-Gum-Inc-Horrors-of-War 1938 "Horrors of War" set]] the characters discuss is about as graphic, if not more than, what's mentioned: each card contains full-color, graphic depictions of various scenes from the UsefulNotes/SpanishCivilWar, the Ethiopian War, and the UsefulNotes/SecondSinoJapaneseWar, such as "Big Shells Kill Madrid Children at Play", "Nanking's Week of Horror", and, yes, "U.S.S. Panay Sinks as Crew Abandons Ship" (which is actually one of multiple cards depicting the sinking of the USS ''Panay''), and the descriptions on the back are very explicit about the carnage inflicted on both military and civilians alike. It's no surprise the motto of the series was "To know the HORRORS OF WAR is to want PEACE".

* UpToEleven: The setting is arguably based on the OTL 1960s turned UpToEleven - space travel, megaprojects, supersonic passenger liners etc - but given a dark alternate-universe twist.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: The story does not really have a main protagonist, but rather an EnsembleCast of sorts.

A a [[Series/TheManInTheHighCastle live-action adaptation]] of the novel premiered on Amazon Prime in 2015. Please put tropes associated with the series on [[Series/TheManInTheHighCastle that page]].

* BlackAndGreyMorality: Life under Japanese occupation is pretty bad. Life under German occupation is hell on earth.

* CrapsackWorld: An extremely hellish and oppressive one. Not just for the actual characters, but also applies for the book-within-a-book ''The Grasshopper Lies Heavy'' -- an incredibly racist United Kingdom ends up winning the Cold War and conquering the world. Of course, compared to the one they live in, the characters view the one in the novel as paradise. Similarly, the divide between Nazi-occupied territories and Japanese-occupied territories reflect this divide; while the Japanese are certainly not nice to their subjects, they are on the whole far more humane, rational and sane than the Nazis are, who practically become {{Omnicidal Maniac}}s in their endless war to attain racial purity.

* FourLinesAllWaiting: The book is mostly composed of separate simultaneous subplots, with occasional crossover.
* GaiasLament: There's mention of the Japanese burning off the rain forests in Brazil to erect clay apartments for ex-headhunters.

* RegionalRedecoration: The Nazis performed a non-violent version of this with the Mediterranean. See {{Terraform}} below.

But you come for the fascist dystopia, and you end up staying for the UsefulNotes/{{Taoism}}. This book was one of Dick's first to explore eastern mysticism, and marked a turning point away from his earlier, mostly secular anti-fascist novels. In this alternate world the I-Ching is as common as the phone book, and most of the characters rely on sampling the winds of destiny to determine their every move. And to the reader's omniscient eye, the more they cross paths, searching for something truthful in a world of fake kitsch and fake identities, the more [[YouALLShareMyStory the connections between them and their actions]] becomes apparent.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Of the AlternateHistory genre.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Of the AlternateHistory.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler: The way the U.S.A was divided between Germany and Japan (each invading country receiving one side, with a neutral area in the middle ruled by German security forces) is reminiscent of the way Poland was divided between Germany and Russia before Germany decided to betray them. This, combined with the name of Germany's plan (see ThemeNaming below) serves as a massive hint to what the Nazi's true plans are.]]

* CoversAlwaysLie: One paperback reprint of the novel sported a cover by the prolific artist Richard Powers featuring a surrealistic [[https://raggedclaws.com/2013/02/14/look-here-the-man-in-the-high-castle-with-cover-art-by-richard-powers/ blob-castle]] looming in the middle of a red alien sea. Though since this is [=PKD=] we're talking about here, it almost becomes appropriate.

->''"[[Main/{{Irony}} On some other world, possibly it is different. Better.]] [[Main/BlackAndWhiteMorality There are clear good and evil alternatives.]] Not these obscure admixtures, these blends, with no proper tool by which to untangle the components. We do not have the ideal world, such as we would like, where morality is easy because cognition is easy. Where one can do right with no effort because he can detect the obvious."''

A pilot episode for a [[Series/TheManInTheHighCastle live-action adaptation]] of the novel was released for Amazon Prime's new season of pilots. After it aired, Amazon ordered an entire series. Please put tropes associated with the series on [[Series/TheManInTheHighCastle that page]].

But you come for the fascist dystopia, and you end up staying for the UsefulNotes/{{Taoism}}. This book was one of Dick's first to explore eastern mysticism, and marked a turning point away from his earlier, mostly secular anti-fascist novels. In this alternate world the I-Ching is as common as the phone book, and most of the characters rely on sampling the winds of destiny to determine their every move. And to the reader's omnipotent eye, the more they cross paths, searching for something truthful in a world of fake kitsch and fake identities, the more [[YouALLShareMyStory the connections between them and their actions]] becomes apparent.

* AlternateUniverse: Aside from the book itself ''and'' the fictional book inside the book, near the end Tagomi [[spoiler: concentrates on a piece of folk art so hard he literally dislodges himself from time and space. In a haze, he wanders into another universe where the whites treat him as a minor inconvenience and the Embarcadero Freeway has been built, heavily implying it's our own]]. The implication seems to be that the events of the novel take place in one of the awfuller worlds of TheMultiverse.

* SanitySlippage: Juliana has a severe psychotic breakdown once she learns that [[spoiler: Joe is actually a Nazi assassin sent to kill Abendson.]], culminating in her [[spoiler: inadvertently slitting his throat with a razor and leaving him to die.]]
* SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil: The Nazis have reinstated the enslavement of Africans in both Europe and the United States.

* StrawCharacter: Childan is the only one shown to have disdain for the I Ching and is presented as a {{Jerkass}} as such.

* TheUnreveal: We [[NothingIsScarier never find out]] exactly what the Nazis did to Africa, as none of the characters like to think about it too hard. Whatever it was, the implication is that it makes genocide look like a serious understatement.