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It Can't Happen Here

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It Can't Happen Here

By: Sinclair Lewis
Narrated by: Grover Gardner
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About this listen

First published in 1935, when Americans were still largely oblivious to the rise of Hitler in Europe, this prescient novel tells a cautionary tale about the fragility of democracy and offers an alarming, eerily timeless look at how fascism could take hold in America.

Doremus Jessup, a newspaper editor, is dismayed to find that many of the people he knows support presidential candidate Berzelius Windrip. The suspiciously fascist Windrip is offering to save the nation from sex, crime, welfare cheats, and a liberal press. But after Windrip wins the election, dissent soon becomes dangerous for Jessup. Windrip forcibly gains control of Congress and the Supreme Court and, with the aid of his personal paramilitary storm troopers, turns the United States into a totalitarian state.

©1935 Sinclair Lewis. © renewed 1963 by Michael Lewis (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Political Dystopian Science Fiction Liberalism Soviet Union Socialism Russia
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It's shocking to see all the similarities. The constant attack to the press, the demagogue discourse, using Mexico as a scape goat. Totally worth reading.

It's funny though how in a book that talks about censorship to the point of burning books the swear words are censored. But that's my only criticism to this production.

Not Trump but...

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What made the experience of listening to It Can't Happen Here the most enjoyable?

Though written in 1935 and inspired by the rise of Fascism in Europe this could read as a warning of what can happen when an unscrupulous demagogue takes on the Presidency of the USA.

What other book might you compare It Can't Happen Here to, and why?

It describes a similar kind of scenario as Philip Roths's The Plot against America.

What about Grover Gardner’s performance did you like?

Very good reader. Really captures the different characters and makes the story live.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Some sections dealing with the mistreatment of prisoners were hard to listen to but worth it in the end.

Any additional comments?

Though there are political and philosophic parts to this book it is never heavy or hard to listen to. Beautifully written.

A story for our times

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Brilliant reading by Grover Gardner of this classic book. I presume this really is the author at his best as its hard to imagine a better or more prescient work of cautionary fiction. Lewis takes the event of fascist Europe in the early 1930's and imagines how such events might unfold in the USA. His characters, the descriptive passages, and the unfolding of the narrative are masterful. And anyone who gives the name Doremus Jessop to the most important and heroic character in the book must have had a pretty sharp sense of humour. I don't know if Sinclair Lewis was known as America's answer to George Orwell but I can see why that would be so appropriate. I was indeed reminded of Orwell by the ease with which the author captures one's attention and leads you effortlessly through to the end.

Sinclair Lewis - America's George Orwell

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Sinclair Lewis has long been a "name" to me but I have never actually read him. Interest in this book seems to have been rekindled by recent events in America and it is indeed a salutary reminder of the fragility of democracy. I like to imagine that the checks and balances built into the American political system would preclude such events as Lewis describes, but in an age of "false news" and digital chicanery who knows?

The ironical tone of the book is well captured by Grover Gardner's excellent reading.

Highly recommended.

A forgotten gem rediscovered

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Fascinating story, especially when you consider when it was written. Narrator is very good also

Fascinating and foresightful

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