Terry Pratchett has written a large number of Discworld novels that go something like: fantasy Renaissance-ish society comes to terms with a new technology or social movement.

These are works of complete fantasy and make zero pretense towards historical accuracy. I still wonder, though: do any of his books provide an interesting and accurate illustration of some feature of the real-world history of new tech or social movements?

Terry Pratchett makes a lot of jokes involving name-dropping of historical people and events (e.g. large parts of Soul Music are references to real musicians), but I'm looking for something a little deeper. The ideal example would be something that makes you, as a historian, say "Pratchett really did his research on this one (or had a fantastically luck accident); this captures a complex point about history quite well."

Example books:

Going Postal (modern postal systems, telegraphs)

Soul Music (rock & roll)

Moving Pictures (movies)

The Truth (newspapers)

Monstrous Regiment (early feminism)

and many, many more