Additional Details
The Simulacra is a 1964 science fiction novel by Philip K. DIck set in the mid-twenty-first century, where the USA and a West German state (of Cold War context) have merged to become the USEA. The Cold War struggle over communism appears to be alive and well and radiation fallout from a past third World War afflicts much of the land. Folding to pressure by the all-powerful pharmaceutical companies (or “drug cartels”), the government has just outlawed psychotherapy. In a widely televised event, the renowned psychotherapist Dr. Egon Superb is arrested for outright defying the new law. But soon after the doctor is reinstated by government conspirators so he can resume treatment of the First Lady’s favorite entertainer, a telekinetic pianist with psychosis. The government is a sham, and the president (der Alte, "the Old Man") is a simulacrum. Society seems drawn up into those who know the truth and those who don’t, the Ges (German Geheimnisträger, "bearers of the secret") and Bes (German Befehlsträger, "implementers of instruction"). True power seems to reside with the First Lady, Nicole Thibodeaux, who is the obsession and idol of just about everyone. Media and corporate ads are all-consuming. Small alive and insect-like ads buzz around like annoying flies. Time travel is possible and being used by those with access to it to gain advantage over their adversaries. Government conspiracy, Nazis, communism, corporatism, nuclear fallout, androids, mental illness, telekinesis, time travel, aliens, off-world colonization, false realities… they all seem present in this complex novel that has all the hallmarks of Philip K. Dick.

The novel is an expansion of Dick's story "The Novelty Act" originally published in the magazine Fantastic. The novel was originally titled First Lady of Earth, but it was changed to Simulacra before publication.