The Merchants' War by Frederik Pohl

The Merchants’ War is the much later (thirty-one years!) sequel to The Space Merchants. It continues the story after the settlement of Venus has become established. The novel revolves around the continuing conflict between the Advertising Agency controlled earth and the Anti-Huckster Venus. The Merchants’ War is a pretty good continuation of The Space Merchants, though the large time jump between the two books was shocking at first. The long time between the two stories turns out to be ok because it allows Pohl to concentrate on the huckster against anti-advertising cold war instead of the colonization story.

I appreciated Pohl’s descriptions of Political Action Committees, political candidate screening (Casting), and the protagonist’s reaction to seeing the night sky in an ‘aboriginal’ area.

If you enjoyed The Space Merchants by Pohl and Kornbluth, The Merchant’s War is worth reading.

@book{pohl1986merchants,
	Author = {Pohl, Frederik},
	Publisher = {St. Martin's Press},
	Title = {The Merchants' War},
	Year = {1986}
}