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Sideshow
It is the year 2000, and the U.S. sways under the deepest Depression it has ever experienced. Radical groups proliferate, drawing their members from the jobless and the frightened:
THE IRON GUARD — Neo-Nazis whose master plan is an American dictatorship.
THE NEW REDEEMERS — Religious fanatics who obey no law except the word of their leader, the Reverend Fountain.
SERE — an extremist "save-the-ecology" group that believes civilization must collapse before the world can be clean again.
The only group that might save the country from dissolution and decay are the telepaths — if they can survive. "Witch-hunting" is an all-too-popular sport…
THE IRON GUARD — Neo-Nazis whose master plan is an American dictatorship.
THE NEW REDEEMERS — Religious fanatics who obey no law except the word of their leader, the Reverend Fountain.
SERE — an extremist "save-the-ecology" group that believes civilization must collapse before the world can be clean again.
The only group that might save the country from dissolution and decay are the telepaths — if they can survive. "Witch-hunting" is an all-too-popular sport…
- GenresScience FictionFiction
346 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
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21 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 8, 2020
I was going through my home library, trying to decide what to keep and what to give away when I ran across this title. I didn't remember it at all so I decided to re-read it.
The stress of the Corona virus pandemic kept me from continuing to read. I needed something lighter at times so I put this book down every so often just because I couldn't handle it.
Beyond that, it's good. I loved the social issues that were brought up and how they were handled. By the time I got to the end, I was unable to put the book down so I ended up going to bed after midnight just so I could finish the book.
I'd recommend this book to science fiction readers who enjoy exploring the sociological aspects of life. I wouldn't recommend this to someone in search of a light read.
The stress of the Corona virus pandemic kept me from continuing to read. I needed something lighter at times so I put this book down every so often just because I couldn't handle it.
Beyond that, it's good. I loved the social issues that were brought up and how they were handled. By the time I got to the end, I was unable to put the book down so I ended up going to bed after midnight just so I could finish the book.
I'd recommend this book to science fiction readers who enjoy exploring the sociological aspects of life. I wouldn't recommend this to someone in search of a light read.
April 29, 2020
I first read this book in the late 90s when the future was still the year 2000 in which this book takes place. At the time, the trials of the psis seemed an allegory to my young gay mind of the prosecution of the LGBT community by religious fundamentals.
Now twenty years later, the events of the book still feel remarkably on topic. In those twenty years, the US suffered through major busts in the economy--the dot com bust, the reaction to 9/11, the subprime mortgage debacle, and now coronavirus. The depression that destabilized the society of Sideshow allowed for extreme ideologies to offer certainty to a troubled American public. Indeed, we saw rise of ne0-Nazi organizations who "moderate" their positions to appeal to a broader audience parallels the rise of the self-proclaimed "Alt-Right" and its moderate language to obfuscate its vile rhetoric. The evangelical conservative political community founded to fight against the Civil Rights Movement and harnessed by Reagan's and Bush II's campaigns now openly align politically with those white supremacist groups and leaders.
Thompson explores the erosion of civil liberties made in the name of safety and the danger of electing an autocratic leader who would exploit those well-intentioned laws to end freedom and Democracy. The passage of the PATRIOT ACT, the dangers of autocratic leaders who use torture in the name of safety, and autocratic leaders who reveal many safeties that were in place by norms and can be broken and pushed further and further to extremism.
Perhaps it is human nature to try and make sense of what we read with those events taking place around us--particularly in the case of science fiction--but what seemed laughable to me about Sideshow twenty years ago now seems awfully prescient (if only decades too soon). Some components remain laughable--extremist environmental terrorists (I assume based off of worries about the Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front) never really happened, and with the perils of climate change seem problematic to place alongside some of the other concerns of this novel.
It's a shame this book is nearly impossible to find now, as I highly recommend it. My dog-eared copy was degrading so badly I had to scan the entire thing to a PDF just to make sure it's available to me in the future. If you can find it, this is a recommended read.
Now twenty years later, the events of the book still feel remarkably on topic. In those twenty years, the US suffered through major busts in the economy--the dot com bust, the reaction to 9/11, the subprime mortgage debacle, and now coronavirus. The depression that destabilized the society of Sideshow allowed for extreme ideologies to offer certainty to a troubled American public. Indeed, we saw rise of ne0-Nazi organizations who "moderate" their positions to appeal to a broader audience parallels the rise of the self-proclaimed "Alt-Right" and its moderate language to obfuscate its vile rhetoric. The evangelical conservative political community founded to fight against the Civil Rights Movement and harnessed by Reagan's and Bush II's campaigns now openly align politically with those white supremacist groups and leaders.
Thompson explores the erosion of civil liberties made in the name of safety and the danger of electing an autocratic leader who would exploit those well-intentioned laws to end freedom and Democracy. The passage of the PATRIOT ACT, the dangers of autocratic leaders who use torture in the name of safety, and autocratic leaders who reveal many safeties that were in place by norms and can be broken and pushed further and further to extremism.
Perhaps it is human nature to try and make sense of what we read with those events taking place around us--particularly in the case of science fiction--but what seemed laughable to me about Sideshow twenty years ago now seems awfully prescient (if only decades too soon). Some components remain laughable--extremist environmental terrorists (I assume based off of worries about the Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front) never really happened, and with the perils of climate change seem problematic to place alongside some of the other concerns of this novel.
It's a shame this book is nearly impossible to find now, as I highly recommend it. My dog-eared copy was degrading so badly I had to scan the entire thing to a PDF just to make sure it's available to me in the future. If you can find it, this is a recommended read.
January 7, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews