Future Freedoms

Interstellar travel is the ultimate symbol of freedom in American sf and, in several cases, is accompanied by escape from tyranny back on Earth. I could list titles but I think that we have been through them before:

Robert Heinlein's Howard Families escape persecution by hijacking a generation ship;

when SM Stirling's Draka conquer the Solar System, some Americans escape to found an extra-solar colony;

Poul Anderson's Technic History features the "Breakup" and, in another series, his extrasolar planet, Rustum, is colonized by ideological refugees;

the opening instalments of both of James Blish's future history series, Okies and pantropy, end with political refugees fleeing from the Solar System.

Six examples from four major sf authors. But this is wishful thinking. The bulk of humanity has to resist encroachments on its freedom here on Earth.

In a future history series, the opening instalment is a story complete in itself and the second story begins in a different time and place:

in the Technic History, the action moves from a Saturnian moon to an extrasolar planet;

Volume I of Blish's Cities In Flight ends with Senator Wagoner in his cell on the last day whereas Volume II opens centuries later with Crispin deFord waiting to watch the city of Scranton leave Earth (and, if we have read this series in publication order, then we already know deFord's fate);

Book One of Blish's The Seedling Stars ends with Sweeney on Ganymede whereas Book Two opens in a completely different milieu with Honath the Purse-Maker...

As James Blish once said, we grew up with science fiction...