This first volume in a definitive two-volume edition gathers the first five Hainish novels: Rocannons World, in which an ethnologist sent to a bronze-age planet must help defeat an intergalactic enemy; Planet of Exile, the story of human colonists stranded on a planet that is slowly killing them; City of Illusions, which finds a future Earth ruled by the mysterious Shing; and the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning masterpieces The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessedas well as four short stories.

Rocannon's world -- Planet of exile -- City of illusions -- The left hand of darkness -- The dispossessed -- Stories.