World War II ended in the complete defeat of the USSR and the USA. Under the 1947 surrender agreement, Germany rules the East Coast, the Western states are handed over to Japan, in the South there is a puppet government, and even the formally independent Midwestern region is controlled by Japan. Television hasn’t yet reached every home, but the first space ships already launched—constructed by German engineers—to the Moon, Mars, and Venus…
At first glance, this seems like just another “alternate history” novel. But Dick wouldn’t be Dick if he didn’t put his favorite idea into it: what is reality? Which reality is the true one, and which is only seeming to be real?