It Can't Happen Here
Literary Classics

It Can't Happen Here

Sinclair Lewis 1935

"Senator 'Buzz' Windrip, having used fiery rhetoric, cordial friendliness, and cold calculation to reach the White House, proceeds to bring in his own paramilitary storm troops, take control of the government, and implement his totalitarian program." * "A warning about the fragility of democracy, this is an alarming, eerily timeless look at how fascism was able to gain a foothold in America. Written during the Great Depression, when the country was largely oblivious to Hitler's aggression, it juxtaposes sharp political satire with the chillingly realistic rise of a president who becomes dictator to save the nation from social frauds, sex, crime and a liberal press..." "Doremus Jessup, editor of a small New Newspaper in England, follows the rise to the presidency of the United States of a fascist demagogue, Berzelius Windrip and his friends publish an underground newspaper that tells the truth about what is happening. Doremus is imprisoned, escapes to Canada and joins the underground movement led by a man who had opposed Windrip in the elections. The novel attacks some aspects of capitalism and fascism, and the communists also receive their share of criticism. Shapiro. Fiction for young people. "An imaginary story of possible changes in American government and their effects on the individual."

Previews available in: English

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Anti-fascist movements, Presidents, Newspaper editors, Fiction, Drama, Science fiction, Dictators, Fascists, Elections, Presidents, united states, fiction, Vermont, fiction, Canada, fiction, Political fiction, American fiction (fictional works by an author), Historical fiction, general, Fiction, war and military, Patriotism, Revolutions, Politics and government, Elections, Presidents, Élection, Romans, nouvelles, Antifascisme, Rédacteurs en chef, Dictateurs, Fascistes, Classics, Political, Historical, Literary, English and university success -> English -> fictionPlaces

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It Can't Happen Here is a semi-satirical American political novel published in 1935. Its plot centers on journalist Doremus Jessup's fight against the fascist regime of the new United States president, Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip. Windripis was elected on a platform that promised to restore prosperity and $5,000 a year for all citizens. Once in power, however, he becomes a dictator, among other things, sending his enemies to concentration camps.

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