Books about Colonization

  1. The Martian Chronicles

    by Ray Bradbury
    Human colonists struggle for survival on Mars, facing the challenges of a new world.

    The strange and wonderful tale of man’s experiences on Mars, filled with intense images and astonishing visions. Now part of the Voyager Classics collection. The Martian Chronicles tells the story of ... (Goodreads)

  2. The Life of Elizabeth I

    by Alison Weir
    Biography of the influential 16th-century English queen, detailing her rise to power and rule.

    NEW YORK TIMES, BESTSELLER Perhaps the most influential sovereign England has ever known, Queen Elizabeth I remained an extremely private person throughout her reign, keeping her own counsel and ... (Goodreads)

  3. Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before

    by Tony Horwitz
    A modern-day journey following the footsteps of Captain Cook, exploring the Pacific and its people, history, and culture.

    Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone BeforeTwo centuries after James Cook's epic voyages of discovery, Tony Horwitz takes readers on a wild ride across hemispheres and centuries to recapture the ... (Goodreads)

  4. The Uplift War

    by David Brin
    A story of a species of aliens fighting to survive against a powerful oppressor.

    David Brin's Uplift novels are among the most thrilling and extraordinary science fiction ever written. Sundiver, Startide Rising, and The Uplift War –a New York Times bestseller--together make up ... (Goodreads)

  5. Death Comes for the Archbishop

    by Willa Cather
    An epic tale of faith and courage, set in the deserts of New Mexico during the 19th century.

    The narrative is based on two historical figures of the late 19th century, Jean-Baptiste Lamy and Joseph Projectus Machebeuf , and rather than any one singular plot, is the stylized re-telling of ... (Wikipedia)

  6. Red Mars

    by Kim Stanley Robinson
    Colonists brave the harsh landscapes of Mars, striving to make the planet their new home.

    Red Mars starts in 2026 with the first colonial voyage to Mars aboard the Ares , the largest interplanetary spacecraft ever built and home to a crew who are to be the first hundred Martian colonists. ... (Wikipedia)

  7. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus

    by Charles C. Mann
    Re-examination of the pre-Columbian Americas, uncovering new evidence of its history.

    In this groundbreaking work of science, history, and archaeology, Charles C. Mann radically alters our understanding of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus in 1492.,Contrary to what so many ... (Goodreads)

  8. Caliban's War

    by James S.A. Corey
    War between rival colonies on a hostile planet, with humanity's survival at stake.

    On Ganymede , Mei Meng is kidnapped from her preschool by her doctor. Several hours later, Earth and Martian space marines are attacked and effortlessly killed by a super soldier , with Bobbie ... (Wikipedia)

  9. Heart of Darkness

    by Joseph Conrad
    A journey into the depths of the human psyche, exploring the darkness of colonialism.

    Aboard the Nellie , anchored in the River Thames near Gravesend , Charles Marlow tells his fellow sailors how he became captain of a river steamboat for an ivory trading company. As a child, Marlow ... (Wikipedia)

  10. Anvil of Stars

    by Greg Bear
    A group of children seek revenge on the alien race that destroyed their families. They embark on a dangerous journey through space to find justice.

    There are two interwoven themes in the novel. The first is the cost of justice. Destroying the race that attempted to destroy humanity (and, it is later revealed, other races) appears to be a simple ... (Wikipedia)

  11. The Poisonwood Bible

    by Barbara Kingsolver
    A family's journey in the Congo, exploring the intersection of faith, colonialism, and identity.

    Orleanna Price, the mother of the family, narrates the introductory chapter in five of the novel's seven sections. The narrative then alternates among the four daughters, with a slight preference for ... (Wikipedia)

  12. Blue Mars

    by Kim Stanley Robinson
    The final book in the Mars Trilogy, following the terraforming and colonization of Mars. The story explores the political, social, and environmental consequences of human expansion into space.

    Red Mars starts in 2026 with the first colonial voyage to Mars aboard the Ares , the largest interplanetary spacecraft ever built and home to a crew who are to be the first hundred Martian colonists. ... (Wikipedia)

  13. Green Mars

    by Kim Stanley Robinson
    Colonization of Mars, as humans seek to terraform and inhabit the red planet.

    Red Mars starts in 2026 with the first colonial voyage to Mars aboard the Ares , the largest interplanetary spacecraft ever built and home to a crew who are to be the first hundred Martian colonists. ... (Wikipedia)

  14. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies

    by Jared Diamond
    Tracing the origins of human civilizations through the lens of geography, technology, and biology.

    "Diamond has written a book of remarkable scope ... one of the most important and readable works on the human past published in recent years." Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a national bestseller: ... (Goodreads)

  15. The Last Colony

    by John Scalzi
    A group of colonists are sent to a new planet to establish a colony, but they soon find themselves caught in the middle of a political power struggle.

    Retired from his fighting days, John Perry is now village ombudsman for a human colony on distant Huckleberry. With his wife, former Special Forces warrior Jane Sagan, he farms several acres, ... (Goodreads)

  16. Cibola Burn

    by James S.A. Corey
    Space explorers encounter new civilizations with differing values, sparking a power struggle.

    After the events of, Abaddon's Gate, , humanity has gained entry to thousands of new worlds and solar systems through the gate networks. At the start of Cibola Burn the United Nations, Martian and ... (Wikipedia)

  17. Farmer in the Sky

    by Robert A. Heinlein
    A young boy and his family emigrate to Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter, to start a new life as farmers.

    The story starts on a future, overcrowded Earth , where food is carefully rationed. Teenager William (Bill) Lermer lives with his widower father, George. George decides to emigrate to the farming ... (Wikipedia)

  18. Abaddon's Gate

    by James S.A. Corey
    A crew of space explorers venture through an alien structure in search of a new home.

    Abaddon's Gate is the third book in the New York Times bestselling Expanse series. For generations, the solar system - Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt - was humanity's great frontier. Until now. ... (Goodreads)

  19. Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson's Lost Pacific Empire: A Story of Wealth, Ambition, and Survival

    by Peter Stark
    The story of John Jacob Astor's ambitious plan to establish a fur trading empire in the Pacific Northwest and the harrowing journey of his expedition.

    In the tradition of, The Lost City of Z, and, Skeletons in the Zahara,, Astoria, is the thrilling, true-adventure tale of the 1810 Astor Expedition, an epic, now forgotten, three-year journey to ... (Barnes & Noble)

  20. Dragonsdawn

    by Anne McCaffrey
    An epic sci-fi adventure in a distant world, exploring the secrets of a mysterious species.

    The planet Pern seemed a paradise to its new colonists—seeking to return to an agrarian-based simpler way of life, Admiral Paul Benden , Governor Emily Boll and the rest of the colonists had selected ... (Wikipedia)

  21. Ancillary Mercy

    by Ann Leckie
    A military captain confronts her past and enemies in a quest to save humanity.

    Ancillary Mercy is the stunning conclusion to the trilogy that began with Ancillary Justice , the only novel ever to win the Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke Awards. For a moment, things seemed to ... (Goodreads)

  22. The Crystal City

    by Orson Scott Card
    A young boy's mission to save his family and their world from destruction.

    Alvin and Arthur stay at a boarding house where mixed-blood children are cared for by Papa Moose and Mama Squirrel. While there, Alvin uses his knack to cleanse the mosquitoes and disease from a ... (Wikipedia)

  23. A Deepness in the Sky

    by Vernor Vinge
    A futuristic story of two civilizations clashing on a distant planet.

    The Qeng Ho arrive at the OnOff star shortly before the Emergent fleet, a few years before the sun turns on, at which point the Spider civilization will "wake up" and continue its climb into a ... (Wikipedia)

  24. Drums of Autumn

    by Diana Gabaldon
    A romantic family saga set in 18th century America, of the struggles of an immigrant family.

    The heroine of the bestselling, Outlander, , Claire, returns in Drums of Autumn , reunited with her husband Jamie Fraser and facing a new life in the American colonies . As the preceding novel, ... (Wikipedia)

  25. Nostromo

    by Joseph Conrad
    A gripping tale of greed and political intrigue in a fictional South American country.

    Nostromo is set in the South American country of Costaguana, and more specifically in that country's Occidental Province and its port city of Sulaco. Though Costaguana is a fictional nation, its ... (Wikipedia)

  26. Dawn

    by Octavia E. Butler
    An epic science fiction story of a post-apocalyptic future and humanity's struggle for survival.

    Lilith Iyapo has just lost her husband and son when atomic fire consumes Earth—the last stage of the planet’s final war. Hundreds of years later Lilith awakes, deep in the hold of a massive alien ... (Goodreads)

  27. Hidden Empire

    by Kevin J. Anderson
    A galactic empire ruled by a mysterious and powerful leader is threatened by rebellion and political intrigue.

    In the far future, Ildirans give Earth the stardrive. Two archaeologists glean forbidden knowledge from the ruins of a dead world. Robot servants of ruling insectoid Klikiss guard the Klikiss Torch, ... (Goodreads)

  28. Downbelow Station

    by C.J. Cherryh
    Space Station managers struggle to keep the station in operation while facing hostile aliens, political turmoil, and personal conflict.

    Space is explored not by short-sighted governments, but by the Earth Company, a private corporation which becomes enormously wealthy and powerful as a result. Nine star systems are found to lack ... (Wikipedia)

  29. Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus

    by Orson Scott Card
    Time travelers use the past to prevent a destructive future, and rewrite history in the process.

    Sometime in the future, humanity invents a series of machines which allow them to view events in their past. Tagiri is a researcher at Pastwatch, the organization in charge of these machines. Her ... (Wikipedia)

  30. The Orenda

    by Joseph Boyden
    An exploration of the spiritual bonds between a small Huron tribe and their European invaders.

    In the remote winter landscape a brutal massacre and the kidnapping of a young Iroquois girl violently re-ignites a deep rift between two tribes. The girl’s captor, Bird, is one of the Huron Nation’s ... (Goodreads)

  31. How Firm a Foundation

    by David Weber
    A tale of political intrigue and military action in a far-off future, where humanity is threatened by an alien race.

    Empress Sharleyen travels to Zebediah and then Corisande to stand over the trials of those accused of treason after the conspiracies of the last novel. Her firmness, fairness and judicious exercise ... (Wikipedia)

  32. The Word for World Is Forest

    by Ursula K. Le Guin
    A sci-fi novella set on a planet where an alien species is exploited by humans.

    The Word for World is Forest begins from the point of view of Captain Davidson, who is the commander of a logging camp named Smith camp. Many native Athsheans are used as slave labor at the camp, and ... (Wikipedia)

  33. Alaska

    by James A. Michener
    Epic tale of Alaskan history and culture tracing the lives of several generations of characters.

    A sweeping description of the formation of the North American continent . The reader follows the development of the Alaskan terrain over millennia. The city of Los Angeles is now some twenty-four ... (Wikipedia)

  34. Mutiny on the Bounty

    by Charles Bernard Nordhoff
    Dramatic story of a naval mutiny against a tyrannical captain and the crew's journey to find a new home.

    MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY is the thrilling account of the strange, eventful, and tragic voyage of His Majesty's Ship Bounty in 1788-1789, which culminated in Fletcher Christian's mutiny against Captain ... (Goodreads)

  35. First Meetings in Ender's Universe

    by Orson Scott Card
    A collection of short stories that explore the first encounters between humans and the alien species in Ender's Universe.

    Meet Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, the unforgettable boy-hero of, Ender's Game,–winner of the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award for Best Novel--and enter his Universe through this collection of stories.,"The ... (Goodreads)

  36. Aurora

    by Kim Stanley Robinson
    A future mission to colonize another planet, and the ethical, social, and psychological challenges it presents.

    A generation ship is launched from Saturn in 2545 at 10% c (i.e. traveling at 108,000,000 km/hr or 10% the speed of light). It includes twenty-four self-contained biomes and an average population of ... (Wikipedia)

  37. The Endless Forest

    by Sara Donati
    A historical fiction novel set in the late 18th century, following the lives of a family in the wilderness of New York.

    With a master storyteller’s skill and a historian’s precision, Sara Donati has delighted readers and critics alike with her bestselling novels of the nineteenth-century New York frontier. Now she ... (Goodreads)

  38. War with the Newts

    by Karel Čapek
    The story of a colony of intelligent newts, who are exploited and ultimately fight for their independence.

    Only the last four of the book's 27 chapters deal with the eponymous war. The rest of the book is concerned with the discovery of the Newts, their exploitation and evolution, and growing tensions ... (Wikipedia)

  39. The Secret River

    by Kate Grenville
    A convict’s journey for redemption and a new life in the Australian Outback.

    The early life of William Thornhill is one of Dickensian poverty, depredation and criminality. , After a childhood of poverty and petty crime in the slums of London, William Thornhill is sentenced to ... (Wikipedia)

  40. Freedom's Landing

    by Anne McCaffrey
    A group of humans, abducted by an alien race, must adapt to their new planet and work together to survive and escape their captors.

    Kristin Bjornsen lived a normal life, right up until the day the spaceships floated into view above Denver. As human slaves were herded into the maw of a massive vessel, Kristin realized her normal ... (Goodreads)

  41. A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World

    by Tony Horwitz
    A journey through the forgotten history of America before Columbus, uncovering the myths and legends of the New World.

    On a chance visit to Plymouth Rock, Tony Horwitz realizes he's mislaid more than a century of American history, from Columbus’s sail in 1492 to Jamestown's founding in 16-oh-something. Did nothing ... (Goodreads)

  42. Dark Emu

    by Bruce Pascoe
    A groundbreaking work that challenges the colonial myth of Indigenous Australians as hunter-gatherers, revealing their sophisticated agricultural practices.

    Dark Emu puts forward an argument for a reconsideration of the hunter-gatherer tag for precolonial Aboriginal Australians. The evidence insists that Aboriginal people right across the continent were ... (Goodreads)

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