So I finished "It Can't Happen Here" last night. My recommendation?

JanMichael

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Tue Oct-07-03 08:05 AM
Original message

So I finished "It Can't Happen Here" last night. My recommendation?

READ IT!!! Now!

Can "IT" happen here? Of course it can. I would also suggest that it'll be easier to defeat during the early stages of a Corporatist take over rather than after the fact.

Scarier than "The Iron Heel" because it's more personal, less of a Macro view I guess. That said however I think that Doremus (The main character), while reluctant to be forced out of his natural Pacifist mindset, handled himself admirably. We should all be so lucky I suppose.

Anyone else read it recently? What did you think of it?

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Lizz612

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Tue Oct-07-03 08:26 AM
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1. I read it over the summer, and "IT" scared me!

And "IT" made me angry. Have you seen anything about Huey Long, the Louisiana Governor and Senator, that Buzz Windrip is based on? I saw a very good PBS documentary on him before I read the on him before I read the book. The obvious parallels to our current state of affairs are too easy to make, WAY too easy.
As for the book itself, I'm not very good at analyzing, but I liked the characters. I thought they were very well done, I lost track of all of Windrip�s advisors after a while but that always a problem for me.
I haven't read "The Iron Heal" is it good?

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JanMichael

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Tue Oct-07-03 08:50 AM
Response to Reply #1

3. London's "The Iron Heel" is one freaky book.

If you can tolerate (Of course I could) the first 40-50 pages of Socialist polemic then you should definately seek it out.

It's very similar to "It Can't Happen Here" except that it's written as a book that was created from a long lost diary. It's also more Revolutionary. I'd never realized how far Left Jack London was until I read this book.

I also noticed the parallels to Huey Long but I don't think Huey was as much of a Corporatist, perhaps he was but that's not what I recall.

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Wolfman 11

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Tue Oct-07-03 08:55 AM
Response to Reply #3

5. London tried to create a Socialist Utopia

on his farm in California.

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JanMichael

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Tue Oct-07-03 08:58 AM
Response to Reply #5

6. As did Upton Sinclair.

Interestingly enough Sinclair Lewis actually spent time at Upton's commune.

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no_hypocrisy

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Tue Oct-07-03 08:31 AM
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2. This book should be in the nonfiction section of libraries and

bookstores. Too true to be fiction.

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JanMichael

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Tue Oct-07-03 08:53 AM
Response to Reply #2

4. I'm not sure it's in print anymore.

I think what makes it so damned scary is that you can lift your nose out of the book and look around and see almost the very same thing...Just a little more sophisticated and not yet turned violent on large segments of the population.

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WannaJumpMyScooter

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Tue Oct-07-03 07:53 PM
Response to Reply #4

7. I belive it is, I saw it at BandN a while back... Penguin Classic

series, I think.

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KamaAina

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Tue Oct-07-03 08:38 PM
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8. Wasn't Doremus Ward from Vermont?

To recap the plot: A Vermonter takes on incipient fascism in America.

Any questions?

Yup, put it in the nonfiction section.

:scared: :scared: :scared:

Sinclair Lewis rocked (a strange thiong to asy about someone from the '20s, I know). Babbitt, Elmer Gantry: it's all there: America with the makeup off.

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