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It Can't Happen Here, by Sinclair Lewis.
Written in 1935, this book describes a time line in which a Huey Long-like character defeats Franklin Roosevelt for the Presidency in 1936 and establishes a fascist regime in the U.S.A. Much of the story I found very believable, but there are aspects that seem wide of the mark.
For instance, Lewis's fascist leader comes to power by winning a majority of votes in a free election, something I don't think ever happened in any actual country.
Lewis's fascist party isn't organized until after its candidate, who runs as a Democrat, wins the Presidency, whereas the pattern in Germany and Italy was for the fascist movement to arise first and win power only after a political struggle with the established parties.
Lewis's fascists make false promises to restore prosperity; they then enrich themselves and their friends at the country's expense. But Hitler's regime actually did restore prosperity to Germany, although maybe not as early as 1935.
The leader of Lewis's regime is overthrown by his lieutenant, who in turn is deposed by his lieutenant, again something that never happened in any actual fascist regime. The German and Italian fascist movements were both so completely bound up in the personal cults of their leaders that it is difficult to imagine either movement outlasting the reign of its leader. When in July 1943 Mussolini was dismissed and arrested, fascism rapidly unraveled. But of course this could not have been foreseen by Lewis in 1935, nor could Nazism's truly murderous nature which would come to light only during the war.
Lewis quotes the Italian fascist anthem, "Giovinezza", which, according to ingeb.org dates only from 1939. ingeb.org must be wrong.
Lewis's book is chilling; if today's tea party movement had an effective charismatic leader, we might be living Lewis's story right now.
Written in 1935, this book describes a time line in which a Huey Long-like character defeats Franklin Roosevelt for the Presidency in 1936 and establishes a fascist regime in the U.S.A. Much of the story I found very believable, but there are aspects that seem wide of the mark.
For instance, Lewis's fascist leader comes to power by winning a majority of votes in a free election, something I don't think ever happened in any actual country.
Lewis's fascist party isn't organized until after its candidate, who runs as a Democrat, wins the Presidency, whereas the pattern in Germany and Italy was for the fascist movement to arise first and win power only after a political struggle with the established parties.
Lewis's fascists make false promises to restore prosperity; they then enrich themselves and their friends at the country's expense. But Hitler's regime actually did restore prosperity to Germany, although maybe not as early as 1935.
The leader of Lewis's regime is overthrown by his lieutenant, who in turn is deposed by his lieutenant, again something that never happened in any actual fascist regime. The German and Italian fascist movements were both so completely bound up in the personal cults of their leaders that it is difficult to imagine either movement outlasting the reign of its leader. When in July 1943 Mussolini was dismissed and arrested, fascism rapidly unraveled. But of course this could not have been foreseen by Lewis in 1935, nor could Nazism's truly murderous nature which would come to light only during the war.
Lewis quotes the Italian fascist anthem, "Giovinezza", which, according to ingeb.org dates only from 1939. ingeb.org must be wrong.
Lewis's book is chilling; if today's tea party movement had an effective charismatic leader, we might be living Lewis's story right now.
