Tyrann suppressed science and space navigation training in the kingdoms to help maintain control over its subject worlds.

The ruler of Tyrann in the story is called the "Khan," suggesting that Asimov took the Mongol dominion over the Russian principalities as a model, much as he used the declining Roman Empire for his Foundation series.

[2][4] It was first published as a paperback in 1954 with the title The Rebellious Stars: however, this version of the story was heavily cut without Asimov's permission and was bound together with An Earth Gone Mad by Roger Dee.

The Trantorian Empire is not directly mentioned; it would be located far away, having been settled not long beforehand and before its first great wave of territorial expansion.

One could suppose that history has become muddled over the intervening centuries since the final Robot novel: "many of the inhabitants of the planets near the Horsehead Nebula now believe it was named after an explorer called Horace Hedd."

Biron Farrill, about to complete studies at the University of Earth, is told by Sander Jonti that his father, a rich planetary leader who is known as Lord Rancher of Widemos, has been arrested and killed by the Tyranni and that his own life may be in danger.

Escaping with Artemisia oth Hinriad, the daughter of the Director of Rhodia, and her uncle Gillbret in a Tyranni spaceship, they travel to the planet Lingane.

There, they meet the Autarch of Lingane, who is revealed to be Sander Jonti, the man who sent Farrill to Rhodia from Earth, who seems to possess knowledge of a rebellion world.

Later, as Farrill and Rizzet try to explain everything to the rest of the crew they picked up from Lingane, the Tyranni fleet arrives and takes them prisoner.

It is eventually revealed that there is indeed a rebellion in the making, on Rhodia itself, with the Director as its leader; he deliberately took on the persona of a nervous and timid old man to throw off suspicion from himself and his planet.

Asimov noted in his autobiography that the genesis of the Constitution subplot lay with H. L. Gold, the editor of Galaxy magazine.

Asimov later considered the premise highly improbable and became annoyed at Gold for having persuaded him to insert the subplot into the novel.

[6] In Astounding Science Fiction, Villiers Gerson declared the novel successful despite its "unidimensional" characters because of "Asimov's skill as a story-teller of suspense.

"[8] Reviewer Jane Fowler noted, "Making the re-discovery of the United States Constitution into the climax of the plot implies that the space civilization depicted is going to take up this Constitution as a model for building a new political structure, that the "space feudalism" which dominates the political system depicted in the book will be transformed into some kind of a federal, representative democracy.