It Can't Happen Here; a Novel

Garden City: Doubleday, Doran. Very Good- with no dust jacket. 1935. First Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. Black cloth covered boards show some edge wear, gilt print on spine somewhat worn but still legible (no fraying apart from one corner), corners bumped, some shelf soil on boards. Pages lightly yellowed. ; Stated 1st edition, a tight solid book, hinges intact. Deckled fore edges, blindstamped design on front board ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 458 pages; "It Can't Happen Here is a semi-satirical 1935 political novel by American author Sinclair Lewis, and a 1936 play adapted from the novel by Lewis and John C. Moffitt. Published during the rise of fascism in Europe, the novel describes the rise of Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip, a politician who defeats Franklin Delano Roosevelt and is elected President of the United States, after fomenting fear and promising drastic economic and social reforms while promoting a return to patriotism and "traditional" values. After his election, Windrip takes complete control of the government and imposes a plutocratic/totalitarian rule with the help of a ruthless paramilitary force, in the manner of Adolf Hitler and the SS. The novel's plot centers on journalist Doremus Jessup's opposition to the new regime and his subsequent struggle against it as part of a liberal rebellion. Reviewers at the time, and literary critics ever since, have emphasized the connection with Louisiana politician Huey Long, who was preparing to run for president in the 1936 election when he was assassinated in 1935 just prior to the novel's publication." Current events in the US, i.e. Donald Trump and company, have made this book into a must read for anyone concerned about the future of the US. .