Cities in Flight — James Blish

From the Hugo Award�"winning author, the classic millennia-spanning epic in one volume: “A wholly new concept of the far future.” -- The New York Times
 
Originally published in four volumes, Cities in Flight brings together the famed “Okie novels” of science fiction master James Blish. Named after the migrant workers of America's Dust Bowl, these novels convey Blish's “history of the future,” a brilliant and bleak look at a world where cities roam the Galaxy looking for work and a sustainable way of life.
 
In the first novel, They Shall Have Stars, humankind has thoroughly explored the solar system, yet the dream of going even farther seems to have died in all but one man. His battle to realize his dream results in two momentous discoveries: anti-gravity and the secret of immortality. In A Life for the Stars, it is centuries later and antigravity generations have enabled whole cities to lift off the surface of the earth to become galactic wanderers. In Earthman, Come Home, the nomadic cities revert to barbarism and marauding rogue cities begin to pose a threat to all civilized worlds. In the final novel, The Triumph of Time, history repeats itself as the cities once again journey back into space, making a terrifying discovery which could destroy the entire universe. A serious and haunting vision of our world and its limits, Cities in Flight marks a milestone in science fiction.
 
“Compelling . . . If you haven't read this yet, I envy you. Blish's cities will fly through your dreams.” -- Stephen Baxter
 
“In a century that brimmed with human short-sightedness, James Blish was one of the very first genuine visionaries of a new millennium.” -- David Brin