The Fifth Sacred Thing

infobox Book |
name = The Fifth Sacred Thing
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Cover of trade paperback edition
author = Starhawk
illustrator =
cover_artist = Keith Batcheller
country = United States of America
language = English
series =
genre = Post Apocalyptic
publisher = Bantam
release_date = 1993
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardcover, Trade Paperback & Mass Market Paperback)
pages = 486
isbn = ISBN 0553373803
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"The Fifth Sacred Thing" is a 1993 post-apocalyptic novel written by Starhawk.

Plot

It describes a world set in the year 2048 after a catastrophe which has fractured the United States into several nations. The protagonists live in San Francisco and have evolved in the direction of Ecotopia, reverting to a sustainable economy, using wind power, local agriculture, and the like. To the south, though, an overtly-theocratic Christian fundamentalist nation has evolved and plans to wage war against the San Franciscans. The novel explores the events before and during the ensuing struggle between the two nations, pitting utopia and dystopia against each other.

The story is primarily told from the points of view of 98-year-old Maya, her nominal granddaughter Madrone, and her grandson Bird. Through these and other characters, the story explores many elements from ecofeminism and ecotopian fiction.

The title is derived from the four elements of fire, earth, air, and water, plus an additional element revealed as the plot unfolds.

This novel predicts the efforts of corporations to control water; for example, figureheads in Bolivia 'sold' the city of Cochabamba's water rights to Bechtel, a private corporation. The people rebelled and declared the sale both unethical and fundamentally impossible and created the Cochabamba declaration.

In the novel, San Francisco is a mostly pagan city where the streets have been torn up for gardens and streams, no one starves or is homeless, and the city's defense council consists primarily of nine elderly women who "listen and dream". The Neighboring Christian Fudamentalist Nation possesses very advanced technology such as Nuclear Power, Computers and Even Genetic Engineering and other Biotechnology. Despite this the majority of it's citizens live in poverty and many starve as a result of both drought and it's natural desert conditions, the only people allowed food and water are the ones who accept its state religion. It has a very powerful military with state of the art Military technology and soldiers trained from birth to fight. Its Boundaries aren't made clear but taking into account it encompasses the modern day cities of Los Angeles and San Diego (Renamed Angel City and San Diablo), Its Desert conditions and it's Military Power, it likely encompasses all of what was once southern california and perhaps some or all of what were the The States of Arizona, and Nevada.

In 1997, Starhawk wrote a prequel, "Walking to Mercury" (ISBN 0-553-10233-8).