It Can’t Happen Here

New to Penguin Classics, Lewis’s 1935 bestseller about a demagogue who becomes president of the United States is ‘frighteningly contemporary’.

It’s 1935 and discontent is rife in America. From the political margins appears Buzz Windrip, charismatic presidential candidate and ‘inspired guesser at what political doctrines the people would like’. Sweeping to power amid mass elation, he promises wealth for all and the dawn of a glorious new era. Small-town newspaper editor Doremus Jessop is worried, especially when the new regime becomes increasingly authoritarian. But what can one individual do to fight an all-powerful state? Sinclair Lewis’s terrifying cautionary tale pits liberal complacency against popular fascism and shows- yes, it really can happen here.