SIMON BARBER: Dystopian 1930s’ novel offers shades of Trump’s US
As the president-elect’s assault on the constitution has not denied him a second term, Sinclair Lewis’ satire is an unsettling read
06 January 2025 - 05:00
It Can’t Happen Here is the title of a dystopian satire by Sinclair Lewis, the American author who won the 1930 Nobel literature prize for Main Street, Babbit and other novels penned in the 1920s. “It” is what he saw happening in Italy and Germany and feared might prove contagious.
Today is the fourth anniversary of president re-elect Donald Trump’s attempted coup to reverse the outcome of the 2020 election. Given that the American electorate has deemed Trump’s assault on the constitution to be of insufficient consequence to deny him a second term, Lewis’ novel makes for an unsettling read...
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