The taste of freedom is sweet. Loss of control, on the other hand, probably leaves a sour taste to those who once wielded power; they remain self-assured in the belief that they alone know what is best for others, that without guidance from them, the world is chaotic and senseless. Jacob Foxx's novel joins a long tradition in exploring such a scenario, dating back to colonial America. After many years of benign neglect, the colonial master re-asserted its dominance. Meanwhile, the colonials started calling themselves Americans, began to like their independence, and this conflict spiraled into repression and war. Novels like Robert A. Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress echoes colonial American history on a lunar settlement. While many books go the route of war and revolutions, others like James P. Hogan (Voyage to Yesteryear) and Eric Frank Russell (The Great Explosion) have worked the themes of passive resistance into their stories.

In The Fifth World, the present population of Earth live in a polluted mess. Nuclear war has rendered much of the planet barren and uninhabitable. Crops fail; diseases spread. The United Nations has been replaced by an international alliance called the Consortium. In a last, desperate hope, they built a spaceship called the Ark and launched it toward a recently discovered earth-like planet called Gaia. The journey would take nearly twenty years. All seemed on course, but then contact between ship and Earth vanished. Now, years later, a new ship is launched with the goal of finding out what happened to the original ship and the colonists. This second ship carries a crew more experienced in diplomacy and statesmanship, in case there are survivors who in the intervening years have forgotten from whence they came.

Aboard the second ship also is Becca Newman, a noted marine biologist, whose brother Alex departed on the first ship. Since the loss of that ship (and, in her mind, the loss of her brother), Newman withdrew from society and her career. Given a chance to find out the truth while getting her life back on course, she accepted a place on the second ship.

When the new ship arrives on Gaia they find the colony alive, but operating on entirely different principles than originally intended. Instead of large tower complexes, they find houses. Instead of planned sites and limited construction, they find the colonists have built many cities. As one of the planners on the second ship puts it, “this isn't government. It is anarchy!"

Back on Earth the Consortium had abolished many basic rights and freedoms. The initial Ark settlement carried over many Consortium laws, but some colonists objected. In one scene they debate what happened years ago as they face the same prospect happening again with the new ship from Earth. It is a scene one can imagine taking place in Williamsburg's Raleigh Tavern in the 1770s.

“The laws were illegal.”

“The government's law violated the rights of the people. The rights of the people are higher, more fundamental.”

“Fundamental rights…That is exactly what the Consortium violated. It is exactly what the Colonial Authority violated here. It is what King George III, Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Ken-Shi Kaosaki, Jamie Hopson, and Exl Steiger all violated. When a government violates these rights, it is the right and duty of the people to oppose it and abolish it if necessary.”

Although the Consortium has been replaced by the Terran Federation, the impulse to control others remains the same. While not really an anarchy, the Gaian society values freedom, and finds itself at odds with the Federation and its desire for planned order. Conflict is inevitable. They've already experienced one conflict, shortly after their arrival, and are wary of the same events. At the same time, they must approach the new Federation authorities carefuly, as they do not want to frighten them with their rebellious tendencies. As Becca discovers, her brother Alex is deeply involved iwht the Gaian “anarchists” and she must choose sides.

Foxx's novel approaches and deals with this conflict fairly slowly, building tension. The Fifth World falls into a tradition of genre novels adapting the American Revolution to the future. Becca fades a litte from main character to spectator once she reaches Gaia, yet the cast expands with many interesting people at the same time. Some of his “bad” characters come across as slightly cartoonish, but then one only has to look at the current chair of the American intelligence department, James Clapper, and his “least untruthful” statement to see that cartoonish can also be grounded in reality.