Book Description
The only one of Sinclair Lewis's later novels to match the power of Main Street, Babbitt, and Arrowsmith, It Can't Happen Here is a cautionary tale about the fragility of democracy, an alarming, eerily timeless look at how fascism could take hold in America. Written during the Great Depression when America 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, rampant promiscuity, crime, and a liberal press. Now finally back in print, It Can't Happen Here remains uniquely important, a shockingly prescient novel that's as fresh and contemporary as today's news.
Customer Reviews:
Be Militant for at least Once.......2007-05-07
Lee Roscoe has recently (© 2005) adapted Sinclair Lewis's novel It Can't Happen Here to the stage. This play is a militant agitprop work and is available to people who want to produce it for an audience in a militant perspective to fight against the present erring developments of Bush's presidency and to advocate the necessity to impeach him and his vice-president as the last defense against their systematic attack on the Constitution, hence the American people and the World's population. This enables us to rediscover the plot imagined by Sinclair Lewis in the mid 30s who was afraid of the possibility for a populist candidate to become President of the US and lead the country to some kind of fascist dictatorship. Apparently this fear is being revived in the world, or rather in some countries by the war on terror launched by President Bush and that has brought some fairly frightening developments against basic civil rights: the possibility for the police to know what you borrow or check in and out in public libraries and the restriction under which the librarian is not to tell you about it; the negation of habeas corpus for a whole set of people who have been imprisoned in Guantanamo for years without any basic constitutional or plainly universally recognized rights like the possibility to communicate with the outside world, the right to have a lawyer, the right to be informed about the charges that are leveled at them, the right to be tried in a normal court in due time and following proper procedures, etc (the procedure is so unbelievably wrong that quite a few of these prisoners have been released without any charges after several years of detention amounting to so many years of suffering, social cultural or professional damage, and even psychological torturing, and no damages, compensation or reparation when released); and of course the normal reaction of some American people who believed what they were told and started leveling harsh words at opponents and even at times taking harsh measures against opponents. The text of this play is being circulated on the Internet. The same mindset is developing in other countries, like for instance in France where some consider that the election of Nicolas Sarkozy for instance is leading to the same kind of mechanism that will necessarily lead to a police state if not fascism.
The process imagined by Sinclair Lewis is simple: a populist elected candidate and the defense of the absolute freedom of all markets to liberate the creative energy of capitalism and get us out of all possible crises. This will lead to work camps for unemployed people; the ruin of all independent newspapers and the hunting down of all alternative expression and media as unpatriotic if not anti-patriotic; the ruin of all businesses that do not support the policy of the President; the creation of some kind of militia to keep an eye on everyone; the increase of the powers of this militia that would have authority over all other police forces and even over justice. Of course one of the first triggering elements this President would need is some menace from a foreign country, hence a war against this menacing country, be it true or imagined, and a designated accomplice inside the country defined as anarchist, communist or terrorist. And the old world is then perverted enough for fascism to be born in the very sanctuary of human rights and civil liberties, and then "M and M" becomes Militia Man.
It is interesting to see this revival. It reveals several elements that we must keep in mind if we want to understand what is happening in the world. People are really afraid of the future in this changing world. People are afraid of change because it precisely is change and comfort means no change.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine & Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne
Characteristic Lewis.......2007-04-10
As other reviews here have stated, this is not a subtle book. Anyone familiar with Lewis's other works will have no problem recognizing him here: he is heavy-handed and obvious, his writing is ham-fisted and clunkey.
But the book works, for the same reasons his more well known books works. Lewis has a fantastic ear for language and tone. His satire is always spot-on. Sure, his characters are exaggerated to the point of being caricatures, but the kernal of truth is always there amid the hyperbole.
It's not Babbit or Main Street, but a good read for Lewis fans.
5 stars isn't enough.......2007-02-20
While the time isn't clear -- I'd guess shortly after WWII -- it is mandatory reading for anyone who worries about the loss of individual liberties in the US, as well as movement to a "security state", written long before current concerns.
Important Message, Botched Delivery.......2007-02-14
I was drawn to this book by a quote from it I had read: "When fascism comes to America, it will be draped in the flag and carrying a bible." Strong and provocative stuff, no? I wondered why I had never encountered this book before, and why it is not better known. It turns out there is a good reason, and that is because the book is virtually unreadable--apart from that one quotation, apparently.
Lewis's premise is that fascism could establish itself in America with relative ease if the country is sufficiently worried about some threat--in this case, the great depression. The book's ironic title comes up in slightly varied forms in several early conversations. The clear implication is that it certainly could happen here, "it" being the consolidation of power in the hands of a demagogue who offers relief and protection to a frightened nation.
But the path Lewis takes in making this important point is exasperating beyond words. We first must get to know a small-town newspaper editor and his whole tedious family, and attend cocktail parties and picnics with him, and learn that his hired man won't do as he's told around the garden, and on and on. It's as if you know a person has desperately important news that you want to hear, but you must first allow him to recount, in detail, how his business is doing, and what a splash his daughter made at her ballet recital. I gave up on the book after 60 pages or so.
What decided me in the end was a growing conviction that Lewis himself didn't take his subject seriously. The novel's villainous demagogue is named Berzelius (Buzz) Windrip; he becomes President. His bible-thumping supporter is Paul Peter Prang, and the rational small-town journalist is Doremus Jessup--Doremouse to his wife.
I submit that no one who intends to write a serious novel about his country's descent into fascism would choose such cartoonish names for any of his characters, let alone the main ones. Such flippancy causes readers to smile at things that should be frightening and disturbing. It also comforts them with the false assurance that any potential dictator would be immediately recognizable by his outlandish pronouncements or at least would be ridiculous in some way.
It would have been more effective by far to give evil a bland, friendly face, as Orwell did in "1984," and to give the villain a common, ordinary name such as might belong to the fellow across the street. A name like, oh, I don't know--you think one up.
has it happened yet.... or will it soon?.......2006-09-25
" Sinclair Lewis, the first American to receive the Nobel Prize For Literature, wrote this satirical political novel in 1935, a time when the United States and Western Europe had been in a depression for six years. In this novel, Sinclair Lewis asks the question - what if some ambitious politician would use the 1936 presidential election to make himself dictator by promising quick, easy solutions to the depression - just as Hitler had done in Germany in 1933."
As frightening and politically current today as it was then...
Product Description
Volume from set of Sinclair Lewis' works published by Collier in matched bindings.
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It Can't Happen Here
Manufacturer: The Sun Dial Press, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000I7Z0ZU |
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It Can't Happen Here
Sinclair Lewis
Manufacturer: Triangle Books
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Binding: Hardcover
 Contemporary
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ASIN: B000OQBVH6 |
Product Description
Sinclair Lewis' cautionary tale of facism in America. Written before the events of World War II, Lewis hypothesizes what would happen if a disillusioned America elected a totalitarian leader.
Average customer rating:
- Sad I ever left
- Good but not a real mystery
- Another top-notch suspense novel
- A LOT of detail for a little ending
- who's talking?
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The Bone Vault
Linda Fairstein
Manufacturer: Pocket Star
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The Kills
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Final Jeopardy (Alexandra Cooper Mysteries)
ASIN: 0743436679
Release Date: 2003-12-30 |
Book Description
In the Metropolitan Museum of Art's exquisite Temple of Dendur, a monument to an ancient world, a very modern debate is raging at a gala dinner: a controversial new exhibit is fiercely opposed by many among the upper echelon of museum donors. Alex Cooper steps into this highly charged ring of power players only to make a much more troubling discovery: a young museum researcher has been murdered, her body shipped to the Met in an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus. Together with cops Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace, Alex must penetrate the realm of the city's cultural elite to find a killer intent on keeping some secrets buried for eternity.
Customer Reviews:
Sad I ever left.......2007-06-01
This book presents such a realistic picture of life in Manhattan that it makes me really sad that I no longer live there. The mystery, constantly unfolding in different dimensions, generates a high degree of curiosity as to what will happen next. I am becoming a real Fairstein fan. Definitely underpriced.
Good but not a real mystery.......2006-12-29
Lots of interesting details about what goes on behind the scenes at the Metropolitan & the Natural History Museum, but a really weak mystery plotline. _NO_ knowledge of Africa at all, just New York PC views. They're two different things. Willem van der Post's death is pure Hollywood -- anyone with any knowledge of Africa would just burst out laughing. The author also knows nothing about Continental names. 'Van der' is Dutch & any name which contains it is perfectly ordinary. 'Von' is Austrian & is always part of an aristocratic name. Also note that 'van der Post' would be listed under 'P', _not_ 'v'. I mention this because it's a significant point in the plot at the end. But this is a book written by an American for fellow-Americans.
Another top-notch suspense novel.......2006-11-13
I enjoy all of the books in this thoughtful, intelligent series. I enjoy Fairstein's high level of detail...clearly she knows her stuff. Highly recommended if you like fast-paced, entertaining mysteries.
If you like this book, check out a new author I've recently discovered. I highly recommend Thirst by Dania Deschamps.
A LOT of detail for a little ending.......2006-07-27
I love Linda Fairstein's Alexandra Cooper series. I love all of the characters, how they interact, and how their shared history is included and advanced in each book. Generally speaking, I like the plots of these books as well. This book was a bit of a letdown, however, as the payoff didn't quite make the journey to get there worthwhile. The settings for the crimes in this book were The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Museum of Natural History in NYC. The book included copious details about the layout, architecture, contents, hsitory, etc. of the museums. Interesting? Yes...to a point. Unfortunately, the crime that led the book to these places was weakly developed and got lost in the details. There was no opportunity for the reader to "bond" with the victim, so it was hard to maintain interest in the outcome, particularly as the storyline became more and more mired in the museum details.
When I read an Alex Cooper book, I want to read about her and her fellow characters and be drawn into the crime, the investigation, and the outcome...not get lost in inconsequential details that don't really serve the story. In my opinion, Linda Fairstein would've been better served -- as would her readers -- if she'd chosen to satisfy her obvious fascination with the museums by writing a non-fiction book about them. Trying to include that level of detail in this type of book distracts from the story and disappoints the reader.
who's talking?.......2006-04-14
Not impressed. Ending kind of anti-climactic. Dialogue cumbersome, but the most frustrating was half the time I couldn't tell who was speaking. Paragraph after paragraph of exchanges, with no indication of who is speaking. Not ultimately important in the plot, but distracting and frustrating. Poor writer.
Average customer rating:
- A Thriller Lacking Thrills
- Hoped for better
- Needs Better Editing
- Disappointed Reader
- Really enjoyed, but had it's ups and downs
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The Bone Vault : A Novel
Linda Fairstein
Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0743223543
Release Date: 2003-01-21 |
Amazon.com
One of the special pleasures of this lively series, written by a veteran sex-crimes investigator for the Manhattan district attorney's office, is the unusual glimpse it gives readers into corners of New York no tourist and few residents ever see (The Deadhouse). Here she turns her attention to the city's major cultural edifices--the Metropolitan Museum, the Museum of Natural History, and the Cloisters--and takes us behind their sealed doors to investigate the murder of a museum curator whose mummified body turns up in an ancient sarcophagus just before it's shipped out of the country. Together with her partners, cops Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace, assistant DA Alexandra Cooper retraces Katrina Grooten's steps from her native South Africa to the discovery of her remains on a New Jersey pier. Along the way, the mysteries of the ancient world get equal billing with the more contemporary whodunit, and Cooper and her pals get a firsthand look at the murderous New York art world, too. Fairstein's thrillers offer an in-depth tour of truly off-the-beaten-path Manhattan as well as solid plotting, well-drawn characters, and snappy dialogue. What the DA's office lost when the author retired to write full-time is the mystery fan's biggest gain! --Jane Adams
Book Description
The New York Times bestselling author and renowned former Manhattan prosecutor follows her Nero Award-winning The Deadhouse with a mesmerizing new Alexandra Cooper novel set at the crossroads of big money, high culture, and murder...
The Bone Vault begins in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's glorious Temple of Dendur, where wealthy donors have gathered to celebrate a controversial new exhibit.
An uneasy mix of scholarship, showbiz, and aggressive marketing, "A Modern Bestiary" will be a joint venture of the Met and the American Museum of Natural History. With its IMAX time trips and Rembrandt refrigerator magnets, the "Bestiary" has raised fierce opposition from some of New York's museum elite.
Assistant DA Alexandra Cooper, off duty for the evening, observes the developing tensions with bemused interest until Met director Pierre Thibodaux pulls her aside. He needs her advice. There's an urgent problem out at a loading dock on a New Jersey pier.
A Twelfth Dynasty mummified princess, enclosed for eternity in a huge stone sarcophagus, is about to take a long voyage to Cairo as part of a routine museum exchange. But Cleopatra is missing, and in her place is the not-so-mummified body of a woman many centuries younger than her royal predecessor.
Who is this woman with the small physique, the dark hair, and the shiny barrette? What is her connection, if any, to the rarefied world of priceless art and objects? And how and when did she become entombed in the sarcophagus?
Teaming with cops Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace, Alex must explore behind the scenes at the elegant but severe Metropolitan, travel uptown to the remote setting of the Cloisters and its medieval trove of funerary art, and on to the massive array of beasts and bones at the Museum of Natural History. Somewhere deep within the bowels of one of these great cultural centers, a killer may wait.
Atmospheric, chilling, and rich with the kind of procedural authenticity that only Linda Fairstein can provide, The Bone Vault is a page-turning tour de force from one of crime writing's brightest stars.
Customer Reviews:
A Thriller Lacking Thrills.......2007-01-13
I don't know how I got through this book. It was not until about page 270 of a 369 page book (where the character of Clem is introduced) that anything interesting happens. Also, for a "thriller" there is about 2 pages of any real tension where the main character (Alexandra Cooper) gets locked in a storage closet.
The book does some light exploration of three major New York City Museum (History, Met and the Cloisters) but unlike a good Lincoln Child and Preston Douglas novel, you no feel of any of the museums. I was very surprised because the outside of the book's jacket had some very high praise from some very acclaimed authors.
Another thing that I didn't really follow is the main character (Alexandra Cooper) is an assistant DA that prosecutes sex crimes. In this book she is leading a police detectives investigating the murder of a woman found in an Egyptian sarcophucus (no hint of sex crime). I have lived in New York my whole life and have never heard of a DA leading an investigation.
The redeeming things in this book (the reason I gave it any stars at all) is that it raises the moral questions of the museum collections. Would the treasures have been in danger had they remained in their country of origin or is it better that the treasures were "plundered" and sent to a foreign country where they can be protected and available for all to see?
Hoped for better.......2005-03-11
This could have been great but author resorted to padding using stuff that wasn't in any way relevant: 9/11, Martha's Vinyard, etc. I'll be honest. I'm halfway through and thinking of quitting.
Needs Better Editing.......2004-11-05
Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Cooper investigates when museum intern South African Katrina Grooten is found dead in a sarcophagus. This was interesting (especially compared to the author's earlier novels), though some bits could've been left out. (B+)
Disappointed Reader.......2004-03-22
I was at first pleased with the book but when it drifted into a political statement on the rights of minorities even to the point of a white woman from South Africa being raped by a blackman not seeking to pursue justice as couldn't bring herself to accuse a blackman because of the injustices done to blacks in her native county in the past it lost my interest.
Really enjoyed, but had it's ups and downs.......2004-02-19
I truly enjoyed this book and it was a page turner for me.
There were points where I got lost with all the characters, leads, museums and vaults, but frankly, I finished it in a few days as I had a hard time putting it down. Kept me interested until the end.
Book Description
The New York Times bestselling author and renowned former Manhattan prosecutor follows her Nero Award-winning The Deadhouse with a new Alexandra Cooper novel set at the crossroads of big money, high culture, and murder?
Wealthy donors have gathered in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's glorious Temple of Dendur to celebrate a controversial new exhibit. An uneasy mix of scholarship, showbiz, and aggressive marketing, "A Modern Bestiary" has raised fierce opposition from some of New York's museum elite.
Assistant D.A. Alex Cooper observes the developing tensions with bemused interest until Met director Pierre Thibodaux pulls her aside. A twelfth dynasty mummified princess, enclosed for eternity in a huge stone sarcophagus, is about to take a long voyage to Cairo as part of a routine museum exchange. But Cleopatra is missing, and in her place is the not-so-mummified body of a woman many centuries younger than her royal predecessor.
Alex must explore behind the scenes at the elegant but severe Metropolitan, travel uptown to the remote setting of the Cloisters, and on to the massive array of beasts and bones at the Museum of Natural History. Somewhere, deep within the bowels of one of these great cultural centers, a killer may wait.
Atmospheric, chilling, and rich with procedural authenticity, The Bone Vault is a tour de force from one of crime writing's brightest stars.
Customer Reviews:
Couldn't turn it off.......2003-06-17
I bought the AudioBook version of The Bone Vault and listened to it on a trip to my parents' house and back (4 hours each way). The trip went by so fast because I was enthralled by the book! I was hooked start to finish, and actually looked forward to the drive home where I could finish the AudioBook.
Book Description
In the Metropolitan Museum of Art's exquisite Temple of Dendur, a controversial new exhibit is fiercely opposed by many among the upper echelon of museum donors. Alex Cooper steps into this highly charged ring of power players only to make a much more troubling discovery -- a young museum researcher has been murdered, her body shipped to the Met in an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus. Together with cops Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace, Alex must penetrate the realm of the city's cultural elite to find a killer intent on keeping some secrets buried for eternity.
Average customer rating:
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The Bone Vault
Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0739431994 |
Product Description
An Alexandra Cooper novel. Alex and detectives Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace must solve the murder of a young researcher, dead of arsenic poisoning, whose body has been perfectly preserved inside an ancient Egyptian coffin. Large Print Book Club edition; 695 pages.
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Bone Vault
Linda Fairstein
Manufacturer: SCRIBNERS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000WM2ZCC |
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The Bone Vault
Linda Fairstein
Manufacturer: Pocket Star Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000NQ1J0Q |
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The Bone Vault
Linda Fairstein
Manufacturer: Little, Brown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
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ASIN: 0316860042 |
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The Bone Vault
Manufacturer: Recorded Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
Mystery
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ASIN: 1402540191 |
Product Description
Unabridged 9 cassette version of Linda Fairsteins New York Times best-selling series of mystery novels. Her experience as the head of the Sex Crimes Unit in the Manhatten DA's office has made her an authority on mystery and murder. On the eve of opening a new exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the body of a researcher from the Met turns up in an ancient sarcophagus in place of its princess mummy--- take it from there.
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The Bone Vault
Linda Fairstein
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: B000NQH2C0 |
Books:
- Junior Chapter Book: Team Rocket Truce (Pokemon)
- Leaves of Grass (Enriched Classics)
- Letters to a Young Poet
- Mathematical Sciences After the Year 2000
- MATLAB(R) for Photomechanics- A Primer
- Matter in Equilibrium: Statistical Mechanics and Thermodynamics includes CD-ROM (Topics in Physical Chemistry)
- Metal-Catalysed Reactions of Hydrocarbons (Fundamental and Applied Catalysis)
- Nectar in a Sieve (Signet Classics)
- New Directions in Antimatter Chemistry and Physics
- Non-Equilibrium Entropy and Irreversibility (Mathematical Physics Studies)
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