It Can't Happen Here - Softcover

Lewis, Sinclair

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0451093860 ISBN 13: 9780451093868

Publisher: Signet Book, 1970

Synopsis

It Can't Happen Here is a semi-satirical political novel by Sinclair Lewis published in 1935. It features newspaperman Doremus Jessup struggling against the fascist regime of President Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip, who resembles Gerald B. Winrod, the Kansas evangelist whose far-right views earned him the nickname "The Jayhawk Nazi". It serves as a warning that political movements akin to Nazism can come to power in countries such as the United States when people blindly support their leaders.

About this title

Review:

You can't read Lewis' novel today without flashes of Trumpian recognition (Slate)

An eerily prescient foreshadowing of current affairs (Guardian)

Eighty years later the novel feels frighteningly contemporary (Salon)

Not only Lewis's most important book but one of the most important books ever produced in the United States (New Yorker)

From the Back Cover:

A vain, outlandish, anti-immigrant, fearmongering demagogue runs for President of the United States - and wins. Sinclair Lewis's chilling 1935 bestseller is the story of Buzz Windrip, 'Professional Common Man', who promises poor, angry voters that he will make America proud and prosperous once more, but takes the country down a far darker path. As the new regime slides into authoritarianism, newspaper editor Doremus Jessop can't believe it will last - but is he right? This cautionary tale of liberal complacency in the face of populist tyranny shows it really can happen here.

'An eerily prescient foreshadowing of current affairs' Guardian

'Not only Lewis's most important book but one of the most important books ever produced in the United States' New Yorker

About this edition

• Publisher: Signet Book
• Publication date: 1970
• ISBN 10: 0451093860
• ISBN 13: 9780451093868
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback