The Man in the High Castle

The Man in the High Castle

Cover of first edition (hardcover)
Author	Philip K. Dick
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	alternative history, science fiction, philosophical fiction
Publisher	Putnam
Publication date	October 1962
Media type	Print (hardcover & paperback)
Pages	240
OCLC	145507009
Dewey Decimal	813.54

The Man in the High Castle (1962), by Philip K. Dick, is an alternative history novel wherein the Axis Powers won World War II. The story occurs in 1962, fifteen years after the end of the war in 1947, and depicts the life of several characters living under Imperial Japan or Nazi Germany as they rule the partitioned United States. The titular character is the mysterious author of a novel-within-the-novel entitled The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, a subversive alternative history of the war in which the Allied Powers are victorious.

Dick's thematic inspirations include the alternative history of the American Civil War, Bring the Jubilee (1953), by Ward Moore, and the I Ching, a Chinese book of divination that features in the story and the actions of the characters. The Man in the High Castle won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1963, and was adapted to television for Amazon Prime Video as The Man in the High Castle in 2015.