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Extracts

It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis

Babbitt

From the author of It Can't Happen Here, a satirical portrait of a town obsessed by capitalism and the 'values' of the marketplace

Sinclair Lewis's wonderful demolition of the venal and pusillanimous nature of commercial America, Babbitt

One of the century's most perceptive writers on working life

His view of America was mordant, yet it was also unexpectedly loving; there is a tenderness in all three of these books that catches the reader unawares, and imbues them with a humanity that makes their satire all the more penetrating.

Sinclair Lewis's skewering of the 'image is everything' mentality is as relevant today as it was in his day

The broad concept of Babbittry - the idea that the average American lives in a benighted, blinkered spiritual state - has been both popular and durable... Lewis's central idea, like the name of his hero, has survived depression, war, the rise of the suburbs, the revolt of the cities, feminism, the sexual revolution, the counterculture, multiculturalism and the Internet

Sinclair Lewis was an American playwright and novelist. Born in 1885, he received his bachelor's degree from Yale University in 1908 and published his first novel, Hike and the Aeroplane, in 1912. He published Babbitt, perhaps his most famous work, in 1922 and in 1926 he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel Arrowsmith but rejected it. In 1930 he was the first American to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. He died in Rome in 1951 and his last novel World So Wide was published posthumously.

BY THE AUTHOR OF IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE 
 
Businessman George F. Babbitt loves the latest appliances, making money and the Republican party. In fact, he loves being a Solid Citizen even more than he loves his wife. But Babbitt comes to resent the middle class trappings he has worked so hard to acquire. Realising that his life is devoid of meaning, he grows determined to transcend his trivial existence and search for a greater purpose. 
 
 In the economic boom years of 1920s' America, Babbitt became a symbol of middle-class mediocrity, and his name an enduring part of the American lexicon.

Sinclair Lewis

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 Jessup 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.

Sinclair Lewis

It Can't Happen Here

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