The Word for World Is Forest

You don't need me to tell you that Ursula Le Guin is a very special writer. This isn't quite her best, but it's still top notch stuff. It's an explicit Vietnam allegory, where the natives of a undeveloped forest world turn against their human occupiers. Le Guin's typically careful building of a believable alien society is the highlight of the book, but it is a little let down by having the main villain be such a stereotypical bad guy. If you haven't read The Left Hand of Darkness or The Dispossessed, you should go for those masterpieces ahead of this one, but it's a good next stop.