The Turning Wheel

By: Philip K. Dick

Narrated by: Mike Vendetti

If, after a great struggle, the East were to prevail over the world, what sort of civilization would be imposed by the victors? Would it be an oriental version of the societies we know - or might the great old culture be superimposed upon what was left of Western technology? The story is set in a postapocalyptic future where global civilization is governed by a hierarchical, religious society centered around belief in karmic-based reincarnation metaphorically viewed as moving forward or backward on a turning wheel. The society presented is class driven, apparently with Caucasians ("Caucs") at the bottom and Asians and Native Americans at the top. Above all is the god/messiah, the Bard "Elron Hu" (that is to say, "Elron Hu, Bard"), whose spiritual plan involves one becoming "clear" - an obvious jab at L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics, the self-help book that had been released a few years before.

Public Domain (P)2015 Mike Vendetti