In Earthseed: The Books of the Living, created by a woman with a powerful will to survive and flourish, is evidence that individual persons can make a difference. Indeed, a novelist can make a difference. The inference is that some people will be helped by definition of a ritual with which to fix meaning in life. They want a spiritual discipline. They want it especially in the late twentieth century in which culture and civilization are fundamentally unstable. The secular culture satisfies too few of the needs of people, leaves too many poor and without hope. The result is a proliferating underclass increasingly contemptuous of laws, especially of those that protect property — none of which belongs to the underclass millions. People steal, vandalize, assault, and murder. Property is increasingly vulnerable. The wealthy withdraw into fortified enclaves, only to fight a losing battle that must end...