I don't know why this story has stuck with me for so long.
A favorite series was the "Riverworld" set by Philip Jose Farmer.
From the first SF book I ever picked up, PJF was always consistently good, and became one of my favorite authors.
I recently picked up a book by Harry Turtledove - it was a future-alternate-history sort of book, and definitely didn’t seem politically correct at all. A friend recommended it, they said it would probably remind me a lot of Heinlein’s teen-oriented stuff, and it more or less did. I happen to be going to the local library today, so I’ll see what else I can find...
Agreed. One of my favorite. And unlike many anarchist environments, it is actually something that real characters live in. Not a perfect utopia, where all are happy and great until evil Earth men (or women) come along.