In the ash and silence after America's cities burned, two men rose from the rubble to shape what came next. Lloyd Riddell built Center City with his hands and his hope, coaxing civilization back from the dead through sheer stubborn will. David Barr forged Northburg into a machine of fear and muscle. Now Barr's eyes are on Riddell's walls, and the only thing standing between peace and conquest is a mayor who believes violence is the one luxury they cannot afford. Disguised as a soldier, Riddell slips into Northburg and finds exactly what he feared: a tyranny fed on terror, a population kept in line by men with guns and leaders with no conscience. He sees the shape of the coming war, the certainty of it, the way Barr has already decided how this ends. But here's the wound at the book's heart: the man who preaches peace must now decide if peace is worth the price of blood. Silverberg's 1957 novel asks the question every generation asks again: what do you do when the only way to save what you love is to become what you hate?
