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It Can't Happen Here  By  cover art

It Can't Happen Here

By: Sinclair Lewis
Narrated by: Grover Gardner
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Publisher's summary

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.

What listeners say about It Can't Happen Here

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The Rise of American Authoritarianism

Written in 1935, Sinclair Lewis' novel follows newspaper man Doremus Jessup as he documents the rise of "Buzz" Windrip to the U.S. presidency. Windrip campaigns on an openly racist, misogynistic, and nationalistic platform promising to make Great Depression era America great again. Windrip's eventually beats FDR in the election and quickly turns the Presidency a violent dictatorship, creating a Nazi Germany clothed in red, white, and blue.

I won't get too political here, but it's not hard to see some similarities to modern times in this novel. Grover Gardner's voice is flawless for this sort of novel and fans of 1984, Fahrenheit 451, and Brave New World will certainly find this story no less fascinating. This is true lost classic and possibly one of the most important novels Americans will ever read. Very highly recommended.

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147 people found this helpful

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Good, But Not In Order...

I enjoyed the book. The narrator did fine. And the story is very well written. However...
In this recording, the following episodes were not in order and thus detracts from an otherwise good performance:
* Shad LeDue sulking about the régime's disrespect for him & his pining for Sissy;
*his "courtship" of Sissy;
*Sissy's turning Shad in for crooked dealings;
*and Shad's arrest/ imprisonment.

While an excellent story & performance, the editors or whoever put the recording together, should have done a better job.

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115 people found this helpful

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Cautionary Tale

This book seriously scared the crap out of me. Given the political climate in America today, and the rise of nationalism, demagoguery and the suppression and vilification of the free press, the vision of this story was chilling. I stopped several times throughout and had to re-check again what year this was written. While the language and slang is clearly dated and the lack of technology places it in a clearly different era, this is a strong cautionary tale for today. Grover Gardner's dispassionate delivery of sometimes gruesome events is unnerving at times, and I suppose it was meant to be. Should be required reading for every American voter. #pastmeetspresent #familiardystopia #americanpolitics #tagsgiving #sweepstakes

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94 people found this helpful

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Push thru 1st few chpts. to get to the real story

First part is book is slow w\family life and town characters but push through this to get to the real horrors of life in th e US when it's taken over by narcissistic, uninfornef, uneducated, minions of a President who shares all those adjectives and more. Our protagonist and his idyllic family and town are....well, I don't want to be a spoiler so I'll stop here. But when you're done reading this book you'll see how IT CAN HAPPEN HERE.

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Prophetic Horror from 1935

Wonderful reading by Grover Gardner of a book that, terrifyingly, seems as though it were written only months ago.

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A must read in 2020

The world is again looking to fascism, just like a 100 years ago.

Now political correctness is about to kill the free western world and fascism will follow.

Just like a 100 years ago it is now, as it was then, the liberal’s revolt against the old and tried and the heralding of a new, free and liberal world, ‘mit lebensraum für alles und‘ free from all ‘oppression’, meaning all that was wrong. A total safe space for all - but, as you know, safe space is a new expression. Back then it was ‘freiheit und lebensraum’. Free from untermenschen of any kind…

A brave new world was promised for the right kind of man. A new world equal, not for all but for the superior, ’der übermensch’. And the lesser worth, ’der untermensch’, the inferior, of the wrong nationality, heredity or physical expression was relegated to abuse, slavery and extermination.

It took a world war and devastating carnage and suffering of millions of innocent lives to stop the tyrrany that ensued. And a generation to forget it all.

But now we have forgotten. Political correctness as the new doctrine, a tool to classify and rank fellow man according to his political opinion, age, skincolour, religion and cultural background and/or whatever you can think of, as long as he is male, white and a westerner, we are ready for a new round of intellectual regimentation.

What goes on right now, both here in Europe and in USA, might well be the prelude and build up to a reaction quickly leading to unadultered clear-cut fascism. The major sign is clear for all to see: todays insidious errosion of respect and honouring of the qualities, in its widest sense, that made the western civilication, Europe, and thereafter North-America, what it is today. With these qualities gone, we are back to barbarism.

Brace yourself and prepare yourself by reading It Can’t Happen Here because this time around it might very well do just that - happen here.

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Parts of it HAVE happened here

I really like this book but did have some difficulties with the combination of ridiculous satire and horrifying consequences... kind of like the Trump era! A few caveats: First, in the 1930’s the Democrats were the states’ rights party. Republicans were Federalists and believers in a strong central government. FDR was an anomaly. Second, don’t worry about all those names thrown out by Lewis (including his own several times), most don’t really matter. This is really a story about how a charismatic radio personality, manipulation of the press, a slow economy, and impressionable citizens can combine to turn the US into a fascist state. There are several parallels to current times that keep it interesting. Windrip is the personality who promises the moon to the common man (read “real America”) and grabs the nomination from FDR. Jessup, the regular guy hero at the center, feels believable, as well as his close family and friends - which is good because most other characters are caricatures. I warn that it starts out seeming funny and rather silly but it gets dark and horrifying. The end is a bit positive but not neatly wrapped.

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Sadly, a very timely book, and well done

OK. I don't know how political book reviews are expected to be, but it is hard not to be political with a book like "It Can't Happen Here". I think there is a pretty obvious reason that Audible has been promoting this book, and it is because of their promotion of it that I selected it, so the topic did strike a nerve. The story takes place in the 1930s, with Mussolini and Hitler in the background in Europe, and the plot basically showing how it very well could happen in the US, how Americans can fall for a demagogue and elect him in a national democratic election, and he then proceeds to rule the country with all the trappings of a dictator - military police like the SS or Gestapo, concentration camps for political prisoners and other undesirables. Just as a certain Republican candidate for president today in the US, Windrip - the elected dictator - ran on a platform fomenting hatred (in his are towards Jews, African Americans, communists, intellectuals, liberals, etc.) was a misogynist, promised economic and social reform, a return to patriotism and traditional values, Yes, he was going to make American great again! While listening to the book, I found myself feeling troubled, not just because I am convinced that it could happen in the US, but because I considered what I would do if it did happen. Some people managed to escape to Canada. Some formed an underground. Most went along, thinking they could save their skin, or, too often, to get a position or job with this new government. I know I would not go along with it and I certainly wouldn't be duped by such a person (just as I am not now duped by such an obnoxious candidate that is running right now). But I'd probably bolt ASAP and not wait and give him a chance, as many people in the story do. The most troubling aspect is that just yesterday I saw this video on the NY Times website of uncensored vitriolic language and behavior from Trump supporters (oh, whoops, I named the candidate whom this book should make you wary of) at a Trump rally, and I said: those are the people that would become Trump's military police and have no compunction about beating Muslims, Mexican immigrants, or whoever is the scapegoat of choice, if they were just given the go-ahead (and even if not) by a new president. Listen to the book and then be sure to go vote. It's up to you not to let it happen.
I didn't give 5 stars because I did feel that there was not enough plot to make the book this long. The point was made, Lewis got his idea across, and it could have been more concise. The narrator was very good, but I generally save my 5* ratings for narrators who are so good that if they read me the phone book I'd still be enthralled. This narrator was not that.

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perfect for this election year

enthralling foreshadowing of today's politics. what goes around,... also a great lesson in freedom's fragility.

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Read this book now

The entire first half of this book mirrors exactly what is going on today in America. The surprising thing is that it was written in 1935.

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