Homeland
by Cory Doctorow · first published 2013
46% recommend54% neutral
Why HN recommends it
A near-future techno-thriller about surveillance, privacy and civil liberties, and a sequel to Little Brother. Its world feels close to the present. Suited to fans of topical, political fiction.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
In Cory Doctorow's wildly successful Little Brother, young Marcus Yallow was arbitrarily detained and brutalized by the government in the wake of a terrorist attack on San Francisco—an experience that led him to become a leader of the whole movement of technologically clued-in teenagers, fighting back against the tyrannical security state. A few years later, California's economy collapses, but Marcus's hacktivist past lands him a job as webmaster for a crusading politician who promises reform. Soon his former nemesis Masha emerges from the political underground to gift him with a thumbdrive
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
Related books
2009–2023Underground
Suelette Dreyfus
Recommended by 5 · mentioned by 85 recommend · 8 mention5 recommend · 85 recommend
2008–2026Little Brother
Cory Doctorow
Recommended by 60 · mentioned by 12960 recommend · 129 mention60 recommend · 12960 recommend
2009–2026Jurassic Park
Michael Crichton
Recommended by 15 · mentioned by 4515 recommend · 45 mention15 recommend · 4515 recommend
2014–2026The Peripheral
William Gibson
Recommended by 32 · mentioned by 7232 recommend · 72 mention32 recommend · 7232 recommend
2008–2026True Names
Vernor Vinge, James Frenkel
Recommended by 41 · mentioned by 7141 recommend · 71 mention41 recommend · 7141 recommend
2007–2026Stranger in a Strange Land
Robert A. Heinlein
Recommended by 97 · mentioned by 27797 recommend · 277 mention97 recommend · 27797 recommend
2010–2026Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality
Eliezer Yudkowsky
Recommended by 170 · mentioned by 301170 recommend · 301 mention170 recommend · 301170 recommend
2007–2026Cryptonomicon
Neal Stephenson
Recommended by 324 · mentioned by 628324 recommend · 628 mention324 recommend · 628324 recommend
Surprised how no one mentioned Little Brother[1] by Cory Doctorow and the sequel Homeland[2] It's near-future Sci-Fi and since it was written in 2008, it's more or less present now. It dives into a lot of topics that are relevant nowadays 1. https://craphound.com/littlebrother/ 2. https://craphound.com/homeland/
on “Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?” ↗…they unilaterally perceive as presenting an imminent risk of danger" That's only one step away from the use of an EMP to isolate a crowd of people from the Internet (and each other) in Cory Doctorow's "Homeland" (I'm not a teen reader but I enjoyed it anyway)
on “California “Kill Switch” Bill Could Be Used to Disrupt Protests” ↗All of Cory Doctorow's books are free online: http://craphound.com/ I enjoyed Little Brother and its sequel Homeland quite a lot.
on “Ask HN: What are your recommended reads that are available for free?” ↗Little Brother by Cory Doctorow, and it's sequel, Homeland. Actually more of a "what if" set in the US at present time but still shows how there is a very narrow gap between current times and the time predicted in the book!
on “Ask HN: What is your favorite dystopian novel and why?” ↗…explaining how they shake the basic, ubiquitous surveillance we're used to,'excusing' the characters from overexposure. Cory Doctorow does a fairly creditable job explaining that in his Little Brother / Homeland/ Radicalized series.
on “The Gernsback Continuum by William Gibson (1981)” ↗Cory Doctorow fighting the good fight. Check out Homeland series if you haven't.
on “With Great Power Came No Responsibility: Enshittification in the Trump Age” ↗What I found interesting is the method of communication was outlined in "Homeland" by Cory Doctorow (Or perhaps it was in "Little Brother"). I suppose we need to outlaw books now also.
on “Times Pulls Article Blaming Encryption in Paris Terror Attack” ↗She sleeps badly, plagued with nightmares about the American government. She reads Cory Doctorow’s Homeland and re-reads 1984, finding too many parallels with her own life., the psychological aspect is very troubling. A government state doesn't actually have to put you under constant surveillance, they just…
on “Laura Poitras Reveals Her Own Life Under Surveillance” ↗…in her basement studio and we're all vtc'ed together -- Amber's amazing, but the process is...weird). https://www.polygon.com/2020/3/13/21177769/cory-doctorow-att... There's also a new edition of LB/Homeland coming on July 7 with an introduction by Ed Snowden.
on “Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?” ↗…lazy in many cases. Look how Cory Doctorow works: " The “write it now and fix it later” approach sounds perfectly reasonable to me, but then Doctorow pushes it to an extreme. “For instance, I wrote Homeland [2013] while I was touring Germany to publicise Little Brother [2008]. I had a translator, we’d visit lots of schools, and so I’d be speaking English half the time and he’d be speaking German half the…
on “Work like hell” ↗This reminds me of Homeland by Cory Doctorow. I have now got visions of drones and gassing.
on “A Rally Against Mass Surveillance in Washington, DC” ↗In the spirit of the fact that a few of these book suggestions have been made available online for free, I feel obligated to point out that Cory Doctorow has chosen to make both Little Brother and Homeland (the sequel to Little Brother, mentioned by another commenter) available in a few different formats on his website. [1] [2] [1] https://craphound.com/littlebrother/download/ [2] https://craphound.com/homeland/download/
on “Ask HN: Recommendations of good cybercrime novels?” ↗Ha, well played, Doctorow. I preordered a dead trees copy of this release of Homeland/Little Brother (both of which I had already read) to read the Snowden intro. It arrived not long ago, and I did just that. Today it’s in Wired. :D
on “The Age of Mass Surveillance Will Not Last Forever” ↗