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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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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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Well written, well read. Sinclair Lewis's dialogue never disappoints. Scary story, is Buzz Windrip Trump?

Scary echoes of today

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A disturbingly prescient book, not just from its predictions of the current Trump era but also the way it speaks about later developments in 30s and 40s.

It starts off all jolly Americana but rapidly turns into an American 1984.

I kept going, "Wow, this was written in 1935?"

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A slow build up meant it took a while to get into this book. However this was important to consider the impact of political developments upon characters explored in the "pre Buzz" years. Considering when this was written (1935) the parallels with Nazi Germany and what is currently developing in America are incredible.

Frightenly close to home depiction of an alternative future

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A chillingly prescient warning about democracy’s fragility. Despite being close to a century old it reads like a blueprint for modern authoritarianism; eerily reflecting recent political shifts. Its depiction of media manipulation and civil liberties’ erosion feels disturbingly relevant today. Definitely check it out if you haven’t.

Could have been written with a crystal ball.

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