Set in New Mexico, Dreamer explores the exploitation of Native American culture for commercial purposes, as reflected, for example, in the sociopathic entrepreneur/CIA agent Wilbur Goodloe Hall's real estate development "Anasazi Heights." The development is billed as "A Respectful Re-creation of the Original," and it is an ironic measure of the depth of the compromise involved that Vic Vigil (the novel's most authentically Native American character) and his bride Toni move into one of these "respectful recreations." As a social issue, this crass and superficial commercialization of Native American culture represents an ironic culmination of more than two centuries' devaluation of not only Native Americans but the cultures of other minority groups in American society as well.

Another social concern has to do with the increasing impact of computer technology on human life. Specifically, the nascent development of "artificial intelligence" (which accounts for Benjamin George's...