Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov (1952)

Foundation and Empire was the second book published in the Foundation series. The novel takes place in 2 parts (and were published as separate novellas), and form the 2 halves of the book. The 2 parts of the book follow on from the original 'Foundation' novel, and the story follows from the time when the First Foundation came up as a project of Hari Seldon on the planet Terminus way on the edge of the galaxy, and how the Foundation eventually reveals its true colors of setting up a power center that will start growing as the center of a new alternative to the Empire.
One of the attractions of the Foundation Series is a lot of societal information, and the turmoil and political activities inside a society, even if the society is way in the future. Both the stories of the book talk about societies under stress, and the actions of powerful people in these societies, in one case where the person finally lost the battle, and in the other case, managed to beat the problems.



The book covers 2 separate stories, both around the Foundation, one is a success story for the Foundation, and the other is a story where a single person is able to use his mutant powers to break the stronghold of the Foundation and take over planets one by one. The 2 stories are:
1. The General: This is the story of a time when the Empire is decaying, still powerful, but the Foundation is growing on power. A direct confrontation with the Empire, which has forgotten about the setting of a group of scientists on a remote planet Terminus on the edge of the galaxy (and which has now grown into a seemingly obscure but powerful entity known as the Foundation) is on the cards. The story talks about a society on the powerful central planet Trantor run by Emperor Cleon II (with his advisors and courtiers). A powerful and young general, Bel Riose is exploring the edges of the galaxy and coming up against the Foundation, and has started attacking parts of the Foundation already. How can he stopped ? The story takes a non-violent view of this approach, whereby the Foundation uses the insecurity of the Emperor against a powerful General (who is already very popular); the Emperor will be suspicious of the motives of a General who already controls the loyalty of a huge section of the armed forces.
2. The second story is about the 'Mule'. A mutant, who is able to control the emotions of people and is looking to take control over the galaxy. The Empire no longer effectively exists, with the capital planet, Trantor having been sacked. The Foundation is now much more powerful, but is no longer the vibrant and strong self, with an earlier upstart having instituted hereditary rule. The Mule emerges in this scenario, latching onto a set of Foundation newly-weds, and moving along with them. While doing this, he also manages to sway the leaders of various planets and break their resistance. The Seldon plan also fails to predict the Mule, since the Seldon plan and psychohistory work on massed numbers, and cannot predict the impact of an individual.