# The Great Political Fictions: The Dispossessed

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/past-present-future-6300636/the-great-political-fictions-the-dispossessed
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/past-present-future-6300636/the-great-political-fictions-the-dispossessed.md
Podcast: [Past Present Future](https://stenobird.com/podcast/past-present-future-6300636)
Published: 2026-06-07T05:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/NSR6978494056.mp3
Audio file: https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/NSR6978494056.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/past-present-future-6300636/episodes/the-great-political-fictions-the-dispossessed
Duration seconds: 3776

## Resource

Today’s great political fiction is a path-breaking work of science fiction: David explores Ursula Le Guin’s The Dispossessed (1974), which imagines a world without the need for government or coercive authority. What makes this the most realistic of all utopias? How was Le Guin’s vision of anarchism shaped by nineteenth-century Russia and twentieth-century Israel? Why was her imagined version of political freedom so coloured by the Cold War? And where does Oppenheimer fit in? Out tomorrow on PPF+: a bonus episode in which David talks to Luke Kemp, author of Goliath’s Curse, about whether and how Le Guin’s vision of a stateless world matches his own. To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up to PPF+ now https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Join us on Friday 19th June at the Regent Street Cinema in London for the final film in our current season: a screening of Never Let Me Go followed by a live podcast recording with geneticist and science writer Adam Rutherford. Tickets available now https://bit.ly/4x641XC You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next Time in Great Political Fictions: The Human Factor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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## Transcript

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