Book Review: It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis (Ep.21)

Do you like Dystopian Novels? Are you fan of 20th century history? If you like one of them, or especially both, you'll really enjoy today's review of 'It Can't Happen Here' by Sinclair Lewis.

Skip to 11:18 to avoid spoilers!!

Works Cited:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_Lewis
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Can%27t_Happen_Here
• https://medium.com/@DerekCressman/it-cant-happen-here-until-it-does-a-review-of-the-novel-by-sinclair-lewis-88d00a8f86f6
• https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11371.It_Can_t_Happen_Here?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=dwQMk248iH&rank=1

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Transcript

Hello everyone, this is your host Josh, welcome to the Revitalized Reading Podcast. Today I will be reviewing the Dystopian Novel, It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis. This isn’t a typical dystopian novel, but if you’re a fan of the genre, I’m very confident you’ll want to check it out by the end of the episode. The edition of “It Can’t Happen Here” I read was the Signet Classics edition published in 2014, while the first edition was published in 1935. Here is the synopsis on the back of the book. “It Can’t Happen Here is the only one of Sinclair Lewis’s later novels to match the power of Main Street, Babbitt, and Arrowsmith. A Cautionary tale about the fragility of democracy, it is an alarming, eerily timeless look at how fascism could take hold in America. Written during the Great Depression, when the country was largely oblivious to Hitler’s aggression, it juxtaposes sharp political satire with the chillingly realistic rise of a president who becomes a dictator to save the nation from welfare cheats, sex, crime, and a liberal press. Called a message to thinking Americans by the Springfield Republican when it was published in 1935, It Can’t Happen Here is a shockingly prescient novel that remains as fresh and contemporary as today’s news.” Now I want to share with you some information regarding the novels author, Sinclair Lewis. 

Harry Sinclair Lewis was born on February 7th 1885 in the small village of Sauk Centre Minnesota. The youngest of 3, Lewis struggled to win the attention and affection of his father because of his lack of interest in sports and other physical activities. Lewis’s childhood would be changed forever when his mother Emma passed away in 1891, when he was only 6 years old. This would only drive a further rift between him and his father, and would result in Lewis running away in 1898, though he would return a few weeks later when he was denied enlistment to the U.S. Army at age 13 haha. In 1903, Lewis would enter Yale University, here his peers and professors would note his seemingly natural talent to write. 

Lewis would bounce around many newspaper companies as an editor during the 1900’s and early 1910’s. In 1912, he would publish his first novel ‘Hike and the Aeroplane’, from there he would write a few more novels that achieved little success throughout the 1910’s. In 1914, Lewis would marry Grace Livingston Hegger, the two would have one child Wells in 1917. In 1920, Lewis would publish ‘Main Street’, his agent projected he would sell a modest 25,000, by 1921, the book sold 3 million copies. This sudden success would start a stretch of multiple novels that would add on to Lewis’s newfound wealth. Some of these books would include ‘Babbitt, Arrowsmith, Elmer Gantry, and Dodsworth. His fame and new wealth would unfortunately cause him and Grace to divorce in 1925, but Lewis would remarry Dorothy Thompson in 1928, who he would have another son Michael. In 1930, Lewis would receive the Nobel Prize, the peak of his writing career and fame. 

Starting in the 1930’s and carrying on until his death, Sinclair Lewis would slowly fade away from the spotlight, and would start to see limited sales for his newer books, including ‘It Can’t Happen Here’. The 1940’s would prove to be particularly difficult for Lewis, as he would be divorced for the second time in 1942, never to remarry, and then would lose his oldest son Wells in October of 1944, when Wells was killed in action during WW2. Lewis had a drinking problem, and it would play a role in his declining health during this time period. On January 10th, 1951, at the age of 65, Lewis would pass way on holiday in Rome Italy. William Shirer, a prominent American Journalist and historian, who knew Lewis in life would say this, “It has become rather commonplace for so-called literary critics to write off Sinclair Lewis as a novelist. Compared to ... Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Dos Passos, and Faulkner ... Lewis lacked style. Yet his impact on modern American life ... was greater than all the other four writers together.”

Now I want to give a brief description for 5 of the most important character in the novel, starting with our main character, Doremus Jessup. The protagonist of the novel, Doremus Jessup is a liberal-minded newspaper editor in Fort Beulah, Vermont. He initially underestimates the threat posed by the charismatic politician, Buzz Windrip, but later becomes an influential resistance figure. Jessup embodies the struggle between personal convictions and the need to take a stand against tyranny. 

Buzz Windrip: Buzz Windrip is a populist presidential candidate who uses demagoguery to gain power. He promises economic prosperity and nationalism but gradually transforms the United States into a totalitarian regime. Windrip's character highlights the dangers of an authoritarian leader and the seductive appeal of his message to the masses.

Mary Greenhill: Mary Greenhill is Doremus Jessup's secretary and lover. She is a strong-willed and independent woman who supports Jessup's efforts to resist Windrip's regime. Mary represents the resilience and determination of individuals in the face of oppression.

Shad Ledue: Shad Ledue is an uneducated and violent supporter of Buzz Windrip. He becomes an enforcer for Windrip's regime, carrying out acts of violence and intimidation against perceived enemies. Ledue's character illustrates the dark underbelly of blind loyalty and the ease with which individuals can be manipulated into committing atrocities.

Lorinda Pike: Lorinda Pike is a captivating, ambitious actress who becomes Windrip's mistress. She leverages her relationship with the President to gain power and influence, ultimately becoming a prominent figure in Windrip's regime. Lorinda exemplifies the opportunistic nature of individuals who are willing to sacrifice their principles for personal gain.

With a general understanding of some of the characters in the novel, let me give a short summary of the plot of the novel. If you want to avoid spoilers, skip to the timestamp in the notes section of the episode below. The story begins in on the eve of the 1936 Presidential election. Senator Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip, a captivating and mysterious politician from an unnamed U.S. state, enters the race on a Democratic populist platform, with the Great depression almost 7 years in, Windrip promises to restore the country to its previous wealth and prowess, while also promising each citizen an astronomical $5,000 per year. Which in 2023 dollars is nearly $110,000! With all of these elaborate promises, and his down to earth all American attitude, Windrip beats current President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the Democratic primary, and then handily beats Republican opponent Walt Trowbridge in a, lets say questionable election. 

Upon being inaugurated and taking up office, Windrip wasted no time to begin solidifying his power. Windrip gets crucial help in widening his influence with the Minute Men, or the M.M, named after the American militia of the Revolutionary War. This force quickly becomes more than a President Windrip fan club, and evolves into a paramilitary organization. President Windrip takes the drastic step to dissolve the United States Congress, drawing quick and intense criticism, and even rioting throughout the nation. To avoid further conflict, Windrip tells the M.M to crush the resistance, which they do quickly and brutally. Then, he begins to remove the rights of women, minorities, and states themselves, sectioning off the nation into ‘administrative sectors’. The citizens are subjected to phony trials and unrepresentative government, but most accept these difficult measures initially, expecting the grand and glorious America, and that $5000 check at a future time. 

Senator Trowbridge, who left to Canada after losing the 1936 election, begins an organization to stealthily subvert Windrips power, called the New Underground, harkening back to the underground railroad to help sneak slaves from the south to the North or Canada in Antebellum America. Doremus Jessup, the novel's protagonist, sensing the increasingly problematic and tyrannical situation, begins a periodical called The Vermont Vigilance, in which he writes articles heavily criticizing President Windrip's authoritarian rule. Before the election of Windrip in 1936, Jessup suggested a Fascist and authoritarian government could absolutely come to power in the United States, but many insist, It Can’t Happen Here. 

In town, Shad Ledue, the former employee of Jessup, is now the district commissioner, and he seeks retribution against Jessup for his traitorous articles criticizing Windrip. Ledue sends Jessup to a labor camp for a 17 year sentence, Jessup who is 61, doesn’t expect he’ll live to see the end of his sentence. Sissy (Doremus’s daughter) discovers compelling evidence of corrupt and illegal dealings on the part of Ledue which she then exposes to Francis Tasbrough, an old friend of Jessup and Ledue's superior in the administrative sector’s leadership. Tasbrough sends Ledue to the same labor camp as Jessup, where other prisoners quickly find a way to kill him. After what seemed like an eternity of beatings and suffering in the labor camp, the New Underground bribed one of the guards, and Jessup was able to escape, and then leave the country entirely to join the New Underground in Canada. 

By this point in the novel, years have passed, and the glorious revived America has failed to materialize. Windrip ends up being exiled by Vice President Lee Sarason, who then takes over as President himself. However, Sarason’s term is quite short, as General Haik murders him, and takes power for himself. This sudden turmoil begins to create chaos and weakness in the corpo government, but to prevent attention being drawn to the governments dysfunction, Haik invades Mexico, and plunges the U.S into war. The American people begin to show their first major signs of frustration and rebellion, helped by the New Underground. 

Eventually, the rebellion becomes a full fledged civil war, and the New Underground works to make sure the United States can be returned to its Constitutional Republican roots. The story ends ambiguously, but with an air of hope and change in the air.

The Two major themes of the novel aren’t particularly subtle, but that doesn’t take away from the power of them. The first theme is the danger of tolerating authoritarianism. Throughout the novel, we saw the people accepting slight authoritarian practices for the promise of a better outcome or situation. Lewis was trying to tell us that we should resist any movement or law that begins to impede on our rights, and not to wait like a frog being cooked. Slow and steady removal of rights is much easier to get away with than sudden power grabs. The Second theme of the novel is the danger and depravity of Totalitarian Fascism. Obviously, the book shares how quickly a nation can devolve into a fascist and totalitarian regime. The sudden change from freedom to captivity all depends on how willing the people are to go along with it.

So what is the historical context and reception for ‘It Can’t Happen Here’. Lewis had been paying close attention to the rising fascist movement across Europe since the end of World War 1, specifically Germany, Italy, and soon to be Spain.  Fascism is defined as the political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition The United States had a Presidential candidate who shared qualities to the likes of Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco, and that man was Huey Long. Long was a Democrat running against FDR in 1936, but was assassinated right before the novel was published. Lewis would share later on that the book was partly an attempt to hinder his chances and making a successful presidential run. The Books reception upon release was mixed. Many saw it as a legitimate commentary on what could become of the United States amidst the turmoil and uncertainty of the Great Depression, while others felt it was dramatic and greatly overexaggerated. The novel had a renaissance in 2016 with the election of Donald Trump, with millions of copies sold in his first term. The General description of a nations descent into authoritarian and fascist rule is what has kept this novel relevant for almost 100 years now.

I want to share with you 3 different quotes from the book that I thought were profound or just really interesting. If you want to follow along, I’ll provide the page number for each quote. Our first quote is on page 117, “Is it just possible, he sighed, that the most vigorous and boldest idealists have been the worst enemies of human progress instead of its greatest creators? Possible that plain men with the humble trait of minding their own business will rank higher in the heavenly hierarchy than all the plumed souls who have shoved their way in among the masses and insisted on saving them?”

The next quote is on page 186, “the tyranny of this dictatorship isn't primarily the fault of big business nor of the demagogues who do their dirty work, it's the fault of doremus Jessup! of all the conscientious respectable lazy minded duremus Jessups who have let the demagogues wriggle in without fierce enough protest. a few months ago I thought the slaughter of the civil war and the agitation of the violent abolitionist to help bring it on were evil. possibly they had to be violent, because easygoing citizens like me couldn't be stirred up otherwise if our grandfather had the alertness and courage to see the evils of slavery and of of a government conducted by gentlemen for gentlemen only, there wouldn't have been any need of agitators and war and blood. it's my sort the responsible citizens who felt ourselves superior because we've been well to do and what we thought was educated who brought on the civil war the French Revolution and now the fascist dictatorship it's I who murdered rabbi de Veras it's I who persecuted the Jews and the negroes I can blame no Aras Dilley, no shad Ledue, no buzz windrip, but only but o my own timid soul and drowsy mind. forgive oh Lord! is it too late?

The Final quote is on page 359. “That Karl Pascal should be turning into a zealot, like most of his chiefs in the Communist Party, was grievous to doremus because he had once simple heartedly hoped that in the mass strength of communism, there might be an escape from cynical dictatorship. But he saw now that he must remain alone, a liberal, scorned by all the noisier profits for refusing to be a willing cat for the busy monkeys of either side. But at worst, the liberals, the tolerant, might in the long run preserve some of the arts of civilization, no matter which brand of tyranny should finally dominate the world. More and more, as I think about history, he pondered, I'm convinced that everything that is worthwhile in the world has been accomplished by the free, inquiring, critical spirit, and that the preservation of this spirit is more important than any social system whatsoever. But the men of ritual and the men of barbarism are capable of shutting up the men of science and of silencing them forever.”

It’s that time for me to score the novel on comprehension, and engagement. For comprehension, I give the book a 10/10. Despite the intensity of the story at times, and the complicated mix between characters and world building, the book is quite easy to follow along with, and was very understandable from a language standpoint. For Engagement, I give the book a 9/10. Besides a few small sections of relatively light or expositional parts of the novel, the book is very engaging, and was enjoyable to read from start to finish. How does ‘It Can’t Happen Here', look rating wise? I think this novel is rated R, and this is why. There are some pretty intense and decently graphic depictions of violence throughout, along with some general allusions to sexual assault and abuse. The book also uses the N word in a limited capacity. All of that combined made it relatively easy for me to give the book a rating of R. As I always say, what you or your children decide to read Is up to you, but I probably wouldn’t read this unless you are 18 and above. 

Now it’s time for our Goodreads Reader reviews, starting out with a 1 star rating, and then working our way up to the 5 star review. Our 1 star review is from Alex, who says, “Like many people picking up It Can't Happen Here in 2017, I was attracted to the purported parallels between the plot (a fascist demagogue rising to power in 1930s America) and today's political climate. Although some of those parallels were striking, the text is boring, tedious, and lacks much literary merit. From a political science perspective, the rise of Buzz Windrip lacks any level of complexity. Lewis plods along, informing us of the ways in which Windrip takes power, but those methods are unsurprising and uninteresting. Perhaps the text was impactful in the political climate of 1930s America, but any deep insights were lost on this reader. From a literary perspective, the characters lack any sort of depth, and the writing is stylistically weak. I would expect more complex emotions, for example, from characters witnessing the rise of such a figure. I understand Lewis was aiming for more of a political satire than a literary masterpiece, but (from a modern lens) it failed on both fronts. As a student of history, I did find the text to be an interesting artifact of the thirties, but that wasn't enough to make it worth the read. For anyone interested in classic commentary on fascism, I would recommend sticking with 1984.”

For the 2 star review, Henry tells us, “There are some very good novels about America being taken over by fascists before and during World War II--Philip Roth's "The Plot Against America" comes to mind as being an excellent one. This one, written by the great novelist Sinclair Lewis in 1935, at least in my opinion is not one of them. I know there are a lot of smart people who believe this is an important work. I thought it was tedious, ludicrous and boring.”

For the 3 star review, Tom Quinn say, “A cautionary tale which remains sadly, dismally, infuriatingly relevant. 3.5 stars. Surprisingly readable and more active than I expected, although it certainly is at times windy and bloviating. But then again you don't read this type of thing for laughs, do you? (That's not fair, there actually are some funny lines but they grow less frequent as the Fascism intensifies)”

Our 4 star review is provided by Lyn, they said, “It Can’t Happen Here is Sinclair Lewis’ political satire and propagandized account of the rise of an American fascist. Perhaps most compelling is the fact that Lewis wrote the book only a couple of years after Hitler’s rise to power (and 13 years before Orwell’s 1984). Lewis was an astute and keen observer of political power and was a canary in the coal mine for a world that would soon know much grief. Considering that Lewis published this in 1935, it is eerily uncanny the way his fictitious predictions about American despotism would four years later parallel the Nazi blitzkrieg. Also noteworthy is Lewis’ ability to create a uniquely American dictator, not a swastika brandishing Teuton or an Italian variety autocrat, but one who rises to power quoting folksy barbs and appealing to the New World everyman. Also, this is an endearing call to arms for people to stand up to tyranny, even in the early stages and to be wary of the societal symptoms of fascist beginnings. Finally, this is simply a good story told by a brilliant writer, this being published 5 years after he had received his Nobel Prize in literature and generally considered the best of his later work.”

Finally, for our 5 star review, Dave Schaafsma tells us, “I only just now finished listening to over 14 hours of this book, which I read for the first time, and found amazing--initially almost cartoonishly funny, and slowly, gradually scary, and then at times turning to horrific. It can happen here, Lewis said, in 1935, watching the rise of Hitler, as Brecht said also in The Resistible Rise Arturo Ui, and Orwell said in 1984, and so many others have written over the last several decades, including Roth's The Plot Against America. These stories exist because fascism is possible; some like Lewis in the thirties saw tendencies not only in Germany and Italy and Russia for the support of dictatorship, but in America, too, in movements they saw toward isolationism, xenophobia, anti-immigration, nationalism, and so on. Lewis tells the story of a journalist and his family fighting Windrip and largely losing the fight, though what he says against the politician makes so much sense to us. We can't believe such a buffoon as Windrip would get elected and then turn his own military and media and government on not only his detractors but some of the very people who elected him on the basis of false promises against them. I think Lewis had in mind Huey Long as a partial model for Windrip. I had read Lewis's Main Street and Elmer Gantry, which I loved for their social satire, his skewering of hypocrisy, but this book, published after his much deserved Nobel Prize, I think this just might be his greatest work. As I said, it started out as social satire, where you smile and laugh a lot at his wit, and then it actually turns out to be very moving and urgent and frightening in places. Bravo. Highly recommended. It looks like a lot of people are reading anti-fascist books now, which is good. This is a good one to consider in that bunch.” ‘It Can’t Happen Here’ has a 3.78 rating on goodreads with almost 3,000 reviews.