It Can't Happen Here

By: Sinclair Lewis

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

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.

Shallow plot, outdated references, doesn't teach

I purchased this title in light of the upcoming presidential election, expecting to find a pattern laid out of how a populist politician might become fascist dictator a la Germany of the 1930s.

The novel turned out to be a sort of play by overview of the fictional occurrences surrounding the rise and fall of strongman Buzz Windrip and a relatively bystander newspaper editor named Deremus Jessup, who presumably serves as the protagonist, though his personal story serves as a sort of sideshow and launching pad for Lewis to prod at the inconsistencies and ironies of 1930s European fascism, transposed to a folksy American context.

There seems to be quite a bit of irony I didn't understand: lists of book titles, popular figures, and politicians of the era of which I am mostly unfamiliar.

What I find disappointing about Lewis's work is that while he indeed makes the claim "Totalitarianism _can_ happen here", I feel he never answers _why_ in a satisfying way.

Overall, the novel didn't hold my attention or provide me with any new insight on the subject.

in regard to the performance, Grover Gardner is an impeccable narrator and his dynamic reading of "It Can't Happen Here" is another job well done.

Mark Twain greets Facism

Sinclair Lewis spins a yarn which is amazing, timely, and frighteningly prescient. A must read for those concerned about where America is today and where it may be going.

Eerily timely for 2016's Presidential campaign.

Even haunting. Once again, life imitates art. Reminds me of a quote I once heard, "Read good non-fiction for facts; read good fiction for truth."

Great beginning

The story started great but seemed to lose its flow about 1/2 way through. Rather than tell a story the author seemed to be reciting events in bullet-points.

In 1935 Sinclair Lewis foretold the election of Trump

It’s almost to a t. Then it becomes more like Nazi Germany. Even then there are points that tell us about Trump and how we let it happen.