In the broadest terms, one might find thematic similarities to Prisoner's Dilemma, particularly the Disney segments, in a book like William Golding's Lord of the Flies (1954; see separate entry)). Each is concerned with fashioning a new society, yet each approaches the task in a different way.

The Doctorow book, World's Fair, is also loosely related to Prisoner's Dilemma, but only a small portion of Powers's novel deals with a topic to which Doctorow devotes his entire book. In certain general ways, the father in Prisoner's Dilemma is reminiscent of the father in James Agee's A Death in the Family (1967), in which strong undercurrents suggest a large part of the untold story. Powers's novel, however, is much more cerebral than any of the books to which it may have some kinship.