Eastern Standard Tribe was published by Tor Books in 2004, again released simultaneously under a Creative Commons license. The premise extrapolates from the observation that the internet was already creating communities organized around shared waking hours rather than geography: if you’re awake at 3 AM collaborating with people in London, your “tribe” is Greenwich Mean Time, not whatever time zone your body happens to occupy.
Art Berry belongs to the Eastern Standard Tribe — loosely, the community of people who live on New York time regardless of their physical location. He’s been placed as a mole in London, working as a user-experience designer while secretly sabotaging European tech projects to benefit EST interests. The problem is that Art is genuinely good at his job, and his sabotage requires him to propose intentionally bad designs — which his colleagues keep improving into something useful.
The novel alternates between Art’s London espionage and his present situation: he’s on the roof of a psychiatric institution, having been committed after a breakdown, trying to determine whether he’s actually insane or whether he’s been betrayed by people he trusted. Doctorow uses this dual timeline to explore questions about loyalty, sanity, and the nature of work in a connected world.
Collecting Eastern Standard Tribe
First edition (Tor Books, New York, 2004): Cloth binding, dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition, fine/fine: $15–$40
- Very good/very good: $5–$15