Who here has read "It Can't Happen Here"

[maxpower]

I am reading it again after a number of years. Man it is eerie how spot on Sinclair Lewis is, it reads like the last eight years. Like he said when fascism comes to America it will come in the bible wrapped in the flag. Good read, I highly recommend it.

[lonestarnot]

1. Guess I better read that one.

Thanks. :hi:

[maxpower]

2. Happy to recommend

It is encouraging that people are still reading books.

[Deja Q]

3. "V" (1983, NBC) was loosely based on that novel.

But that's all I know.

[lonestarnot]

4. I bought that one!

:applause:

[maxpower]

9. I did too

I bought it at a library sale. I read it in college when it was an assignment. Didn't care for it, was more interested in partying. Means a lot more to me now.

[maxpower]

5. I vaguely remember that one.

I was only 14

[justgamma]

6. I've read it and it's frightening.

I just read it last year. I wanted to understand how it could happen. I see it happening again. It's frightening.

[SharonAnn]

7. I finally read it two years ago. Great book! Could be the U.S. now!

Can't recommend it enough.

[BrklynLiberal]

8. A classic...that truly deserves the honor.

[maxpower]

10. It's like the Bush admin used it as there playbook

Along with a little Joseph Goebbels thrown in for good measure.

[devilgrrl]

11. Brilliant novel - I read it in 2004 - kept having to remind myself that it was written 1935.

eom

[maxpower]

12. Me too

I was reading it at the lake today and I swear it was like reading the newspapers from the last few years. Life does imitate art eh?

[Doctor_J]

13. I have

very good read. You can pick up the paperback at amazon for $5

[maxpower]

14. Worth every penny

Get it while you still can......

[grasswire]

15. yep

Read it, if you haven't already done so.

We ought to make a list of must read-must see for those coming up.

Fahrenheit 451

Animal Farm

etc etc

[maxpower]

29. Great Idea

1984 of course
The Jungle or anything by Upton Sinclair
Feel free to add to this list. I'm sure there are many that a lot of us need to read.

[maxpower]

16. I'm sure it will be a banned book soon

You know how much the right likes freedom of speech.

[Vickers]

17. The whole thing is available online...that's how I first read it.

:thumbsup:

[maxpower]

18. Better still

Sinclair is not alive to profit.

[TreasonousBastard]

19. Read it many years ago. Remember what the times were...

like when he wrote it.

Lewis was very well aware that in the midst of the greatest worldwide crisis ever known, we got Roosevelt, but Spain had Franco, Italy had Mussolini, and Germany got Hitler. Russia had long been cursed with Stalin.

Lewis was well aware, as were many back then, that it would have been far too easy for us to have fallen into the same trap they did, and ended up with a demagogue. Or worse. Why we didn't is anyone's guess.

Some believe that at times like that God steps in to balance things out, some say it's just blind luck, or fate, or maybe a natural balance occurring. And others don't know what to believe, but are just deeply grateful that the world didn't end back in the 30s.

When scoffing at religion, perhaps it's well to note that there is a great comfort in the thought that there just might be a greater power watching over us, insuring that there will be order when the Hitlers and Stalins get too uppity.

[maxpower]

22. If it weren't for Gen. Smedley Butler

We would have gone down that path. We were very close. And Prescott Bush was involved. But of course that is not brought up.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler#Claims_of_the_Business_Plot

[TreasonousBastard]

24. If such a coup was really planned and ready to go, but...

in any case Butler was an extraordinary character and the plot investigation might have stopped, or at least slowed, any further planning.

The 30s-- they were the best of times, they were the worst of times...

(Or was that something else?)

[maxpower]

25. Well that's what history says

I wouldn't put it past those bastards. It seems the same "business elite" are still lurking around.

[grasswire]

30. didn't W's grandfather have to be buried in an unknown location...

...because he was such a scoundrel?

I'm going to have to go google that.

[maxpower]

31. Let us know

It wouldn't surprise me. Imagine if Obama's grandfather had the same history. The outcry would be deafening.

[grasswire]

33. he claimed to be a war hero, falsely

See this thread I opened in 2004.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x656730

[maxpower]

36. I knew that. Why do the Bush's like to lie about their military records

It must be family trait.

[Odin2005]

23. We were lucky.

Had the Business Plot succeded, or if Huey Long had not been conveniently offed, things could have went straight to Hell.

[maxpower]

27. Agreed

That is why it is important that we know our history. Of course I have a degree in history so I am a little biased. I just went back to school to get my masters in education. Of course now there are no teaching jobs available in my area. Dumb luck that.

[maxpower]

20. Here is the link if you want to read it online

http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0301001h.html

[Turbineguy]

21. Years ago.

To balance Ayn Rand.

[Individualist]

26. I have

[jmodden]

28. Here it is-----

http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0301001h.html

[voc]

32. Will read. nt

[Echo In Light]

34. Thanks

[frylock]

35. i have a first edition copy..

incredilbly prescient.

[maxpower]

37. Nice

No argument here

[asdjrocky]

38. Visionary. I'm going to re-read it.