It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of It Can't Happen Here
Book Review: Right Now
Summary: 4 Stars
I often had to remind myself that this book was written in the mid 1930's. Much in the book is such an on-target description of what is happening today. The following thoughts of Doremus are eerily close to our present day leader.
"The one thing that most perplexed him was that there could be a dictator seemingly so different from the fervent Hitlers and gesticulating Fascists and Caesars with laurels round bald domes; a dictator with something of the earthy American sense of humor of a Mark Twain, a George Ade, a Will Rogers, and Artemus Ward. Windrip could be ever so funny about solemn jaw-drooping opponents, and about the best method of training what he called 'a Siamese flea hound.' Did that, puzzled Doremus, make him less or more dangerous?
Then he remembered the most cruel-mad of all pirates, Sir Henry Morgan, who had thought it ever so funny to sew a victim up in wet rawhide and watch it shrink in the sun."
Yes, it can happen here.
Book Review: So this is how democracy dies...with thunderous applause
Summary: 4 Stars
"It Can't Happen Here" is a staggering read, in terms of its unflinching cruel look at reality - the fact that something like what Sinclair Lewis describes can very easily happen here in America. Lewis' novel examines the very fragile nature of democracy and how everyday citizens can get swept up in the charisma of a fascist leader. What may make the novel even more astounding in premise is that it was written during the Great Depression before Hitler's most unfathomable intents were made known; much of what happens throughout America in the novel mirrors what happened in Nazi Germany with ordinary citizens turning a blind eye to injustice in the name of reform and prosperity.
The story is told mainly through the viewpoint of Doremus Jessup, the editor of a daily newspaper in a small Vermont village, who always tells the truth no matter what. He witnesses firsthand (and through radio and newswire accounts) the fervor that surrounds the presidential candidate, Buzz Windrip and rightfully fears what will happen to America when Buzz is elected. And with good reason, for Windrip's 'Fifteen Point Plan' includes an impossible scheme to make every citizen rich, except of course for the Jews and Negroes. With Buzz elected as president, America quickly becomes a nightmare of a dictatorship, with everything from speech to education being controlled, with subversives either killed or placed in concentration camps. How can Doremus tell the truth and provide for his family if it means putting everyone close to him in danger? Are one man's moral obligations to what is right worth sacrificing everything for? It's a question that Doremus struggles with throughout the novel.
Sinclair Lewis penned a brilliant and scary satire with "It Can't Happen Here", a story balanced by its odd wit and humor. But the story is too often sidetracked by its very own main character; parts of the story meander for pages with no apparent end in sight. It's almost as if Lewis had more to say on the subject but wasn't quite sure how to work it in to the story. Despite the setting of the mid-1930s, the truly frightening aspect of "It Can't Happen Here" is exactly how applicable it is to today's world. Readers will recognize certain fears and hysteria that have marked these few years since September eleventh, and in a year of presidential elections, this story may make readers think a little more carefully about the power of persuasion.
Book Review: Storm troopers, concentration camps, the 3 AM knock on the door...as American as apple pie.
Summary: 4 Stars
Some of the elements of "It Can't Happen Here" were specific to Lewis's time. The home-style fascism he adapts from the European version of the 1930s succeeds by a demagogy that might have worked during the Depression, but would be political suicide nowadays: in an imagined 1936 election that unseats FDR, the empty-headed "Buzz" Windrip wins the presidency by promising a minimum income for all American families and a wealth cap on the rich. Could anyone dream of such a platform succeeding today (outside Berkeley or Santa Monica)?
Still, there are elements that make this book riveting and current: the manipulation of fear and greed, the polarization, the demonizing of opponents, and the absolutism of ideology: Either you're on our side - totally, unconditionally - or you're a traitor.
While I found some plot turns a little hard to swallow - most notably, the speed with which Buzz and his cohorts (he has a Karl Rove-like handler) are able to break down America's legal system and impose rule by thuggery - the central idea that hallowed traditions like rule of law and checks and balances can, under the right conditions, be subverted, is something we really need to think about. Fear and laziness are indeed democracy's enemies.
Book Review: Well-founded Liberal Anxiety In The 1930's
Summary: 4 Stars
In the 30's, it seemed that democracy in America was on its last legs: Fascism and Communism seemed to have history on their side and to be sweeping aside every other form of government. Lewis, an old-fashioned Liberal, saw the clear possibility of a uniquely American (and yet drearily familiar) Fascism, one that conformed to Mussolini's definition: a merger of State and Corporate power. (Very few people know that a group of industrialists mounted a well-organized attempt at a fascist coup during FDR's administration. Unfortunately for them, they solicited a general with republican ideals who ratted them out and they all went to prison.)
Though Lewis is windy and opinionated at times, there are strong characterizations and sharp observations. I particularly liked his depiction of refugee Americans running up against the compassion-fatigue that Europeans who fled Fascism in the 30's were finding in their host countries.
In these days of narcissistic American bellicosity, many people are remarking on this novel's prescience. Though I think it's been somewhat oversold as a book of prophecy, I recommend it for people who are already avid readers of 20th century American history and want a window into the volatility of America between the wars, before FDR saved Capital from Socialism.
My usual disclaimer: I hate being forced to rate books with asterisks, as though they were air conditioners. I give any decent literary novel 4 stars.
Book Review: Who is the villain?
Summary: 3 Stars
A fascinating look into the political climate of the 1930's. In some ways, Lewis missed the boat (genocide was too much even for him to contemplate), in others he gored oxes that a Y2K reader would find difficult to swallow (his most despicable villians have this apparently nasty habit of preferring same sex partners in group sex games). At times it is a chore to read (particularly at the start) as he spends more time in political commentary than in plot development, but the insight into the 1930's mind more than makes up for it. The particular targets of Lewis' contempt are just about everybody. Fascists, Communists, Liberals, Conservatives, Homosexuals, Jews, Blacks, Capitalists, Religious leaders and constitutional democracy all receive the point of his spear. But, probably the true value of this work, Lewis does identify as the one true villian as those in the middle, the people who take no extreme position, because it is their unwillingness to take action that allows the extreme elements to take over and make the evil happen. Overall, it's a great wake up call to anyone who thinks it can't happen here, and who feels someone else should take the risks. The reader must ignore the prejudices (particularly as to homosexuals and persons with religious beliefs) to get to the core message, and for some this may be more than they can do. Three stars because it is such a chore to read, I imagine most readers give up after about 100 pages as too much dreck to get to the story, but it's worth finishing.