David Brin

This is the story of a lie that became the most powerful kind of truth. A timeless novel as urgently compelling as War Day, David Brin’s The Postman is the dramatically moving saga of a man who rekindled the spirit of America through the power of a dream....

For nearly a billion years, every known sentient species in the universe has been the result of genetic and cultural guidance - or "uplifting" - by a previously uplifted patron race....

Surveillance. It is used by every tyranny to lock in place an uneven arrangement of power. When the mighty know all about you, but commonfolk know little in reverse, you can only have despotism....