Dome World (Pyramid SF, F-763)

Dean Mclaughlin's _Dome World_ (1962) was his first science fiction novel. A portion of the novel originally appeared as a novella entitled "The Man on the Bottom" (_Astounding_, 1958). The trusty _Speculative Fiction Database_ states that the original story was drastically rewritten for the purposes of the book. I believe, on the balance, that the rewrite was the better version. McLaughlin imagines in some detail the physical and social characteristics of an undersea colony. He further recognizes that such an undersea dome world would be particularly vulnerable to threatened attacks from unscrupulous countries. Can such a colony win independence from the upper world? Mclaughlin believes that it is possible. I am not completely persuaded. But it is entertaining to watch the author suggest how it might be done.