A futuristic novel about the powerful escaping to space echoes today's world

NPR's Book of the Day

NPR

Books, Arts

4.2 • 672 Ratings

🗓️ 3 January 2023

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Author Tochi Onyebuchi says that a majority of space stories he's come across favor those in power. Rich white people get to escape in spaceships, whereas less affluent Black and brown people are left behind on an increasingly inhabitable Earth. His new science-fiction novel Goliath gets at this power imbalance, and the author spoke to Juana Summers about how it tells us so much about racial and economic disparities right now.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Empire's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. So lately, I've been spending a lot of my free time watching YouTube videos about city planning. I know, I know I'm a wild man, I need to calm down. But bear with me. Anyway, it's been illuminating to see that how cities and suburbs and roads end up in this country isn't an accident.
0:23.0	These are the result of policy decisions made by the people in power to favor people in power.
0:29.5	And there's no reason to think that the situation won't be the same when our corporate overlords start colonizing space.
0:35.9	That's essentially the premise of Tochi Oniubuchi's book,
0:38.9	Goliath. And in this interview with NPR's Juana Summers,
0:42.0	Oni Bucci talks about how he played with images of destruction and rebuilding to point out
0:48.0	very plainly the disparities between races and classes. Who gets to live in space and who doesn't?
0:55.5	In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.
1:00.3	Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.
1:04.9	On our new show, Sources and Methods.
1:06.9	NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.
1:14.5	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:20.3	Picture a not-too-distant future, one where humans leave this planet and move to live in space colonies.
1:27.3	Well, some humans. Only an
1:29.6	affluent few are able to escape to the shiny new colonies, while those with less privilege are
1:34.7	stuck on an increasingly hostile Earth, living with the consequences of climate change and
1:39.9	struggling to survive. This is the world, author To Oniabuchi imagines in his new book,
1:45.9	Goliath. It's a haunting take on a future that is caused by events that feel all too real right now.
1:52.6	And Tocci on Yabuchi joins us now from his home in New Haven, Connecticut. Hey, welcome to the program.
1:58.0	Thank you for having me. So in Goliath, there are some pretty clear divides on who gets to leave Earth and who has to stay.
2:06.3	And I know we mentioned wealth, but we should just be super clear here that it's black and brown people who are left behind.
2:13.1	Why was it so important to you to explore that disparity?
	...

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