 |
Harold Finch from CBS's "Person of Interest"
reading It Can't Happen Here |
The first Sinclair Lewis novel I read (heard on CDs, actually) was
Dodsworth. Some satirical passages were entertaining, but I never felt like I learned/felt/thought anything profound.
Frederic Rich's Christian Nation quoted from Lewis's book
It Can't Happen Here, so I decided to read it. Overall, it's a vigorous defense of Liberalism from Fascism and Communism, yet it does allow room for criticism of Liberalism. I'm excerpting some lengthy passages from the book, the
text of which is available for free online. I've prefaced each passage with a header. So just like
al-Imam al-Bukhari, my thoughts are in the headings and the passages I've chosen to excerpt.
The University of California system produced
a reading guide which looks really interesting. Also,
Donald Trump's campaign has sparked new interest in the novel.
For more thoughts on fascism, read
Umberto Eco's essay on Ur-Fascism. Also, check out my other
blog entries tagged fascism.
