It Can't Happen Here

 I am a big fan of Sinclair Lewis' writing. On my honeymoon we toured his former home in Sauk Center. This time I read, for the first time, a book entitled It Can't Happen Here. Lewis wrote a dystopian novel set in the 1930's where a fascist president wins the election over FDR. The new president's name is Buzz Windrip and he promises to give each and every citizen five thousand dollars per year. Of course only he and his cronies benefit. Ordinary citizens do not get any money. Those who protest are sent to concentration camps. All the states are abolished and the country is divided into regions. Windrip eliminates the influence of Congress. He builds a militia separate from the armed forces and police. He takes away the rights of minorities and women. Another character in the story is Doremus Jessup and his family including a wife, a son, two daughters and a dog. Doremus runs the local newspaper. He writes columns about the rise of fascism and the dangers of this new president. He, with other supporters, end up secretly printing honest news and spreading it around. Any newspapers who do not support the president are closed. Doremus eventually ends up imprisoned in a concentration camp. This was a crazy story to read because democracy is fragile. Some say Lewis based Windrip on Huey Long, a politician who used long armed political tactics. Huey Long was assonated a month before this book was published. Lewis was married to Dorothy Thompson who was a political  newspaper columnist who wrote about Adolf Hitler and that might have influenced his writing. After the book was published it was made into a play. Several times the author played the part of Doremus Jessup on stage. This book took me more than six hours to read and some parts I had to slog through. Although it wasn't easy reading, I am glad I took the time to appreciate his writing.