(em português: sol2070.in/2024/01/the-lost-cause-cory-doctorow )

"The Lost Cause" (2023), by Cory Doctorow, is a climate fiction set 30 years in the future. It's not hard to see why it went straight to bestseller lists. The story basically extrapolates the current rift in the US between Trumpists and society to the imminence of something close to a civil war, with a focus on the climate emergency.

It could also be described as Green New Deal fiction, about the (non-fictional) proposal for a massive government investment that, while mitigating the catastrophic consequences of climate change and creating resilience, generates jobs and new technologies.

The setting is the city of Burbank (Los Angeles). Decades after the program began, society is still adapting to the ruined environment but, for the first time, there is hope for a real chance that civilization will recover.

Right-wing extremists have hardened, especially in the face of the waves of climate refugees, because they are losing influence. Firearms have already become illegal. So they stockpile rifles in basements in preparation for the last resort.

Crypto-bros and billionaires have taken refuge in fleets of yachts, so as not to be subject to the laws of any country. From there, they continue their lobbying to destabilize governments in favour of their corporations, in alliance with the extremists on land.

In addition to this intensely relevant scenario for the present, Cory once again shows his ability to narrate in a captivating way what would normally be dull. Many of the pages describe the reconstruction not only of society, but of houses and buildings, with technical details of the process!

Exemplary socio-political fiction.