Play Audiobook Sample
It Can’t Happen Here Audiobook
Play Audiobook Sample
(3.02) - 1,528 listener ratings
Quick Stats About this Audiobook
Total Audiobook Chapters:
Longest Chapter Length:
Shortest Chapter Length:
Average Chapter Length:
Audiobooks by this Author:
Publisher Description
First published in 1935, when Americans were still largely oblivious to the rise of Hitler in Europe, this prescient novel tells a cautionary tale about the fragility of democracy and offers an alarming, eerily timeless look at how fascism could take hold in America.
Doremus Jessup, a newspaper editor, is dismayed to find that many of the people he knows support presidential candidate Berzelius Windrip. The suspiciously fascist Windrip is offering to save the nation from sex, crime, welfare cheats, and a liberal press. But after Windrip wins the election, dissent soon becomes dangerous for Jessup. Windrip forcibly gains control of Congress and the Supreme Court and, with the aid of his personal paramilitary storm troopers, turns the United States into a totalitarian state.
Download and start listening now!
“This audio version of the Sinclair Lewis classic keeps listeners riveted to Grover Gardner’s restrained yet powerful delivery. The 1935 novel, which predicts a dystopian future, is truly crafted for listening. Gardner is masterful at bringing listeners into the workings of protagonist Doremus Jessup’s worried mind…Lewis’ satirical vision of an America mired in the Depression and bereft of hope is chillingly understated and stays with the listener long after the production ends.”
— AudioFile
Quotes
-
“Not only [Lewis’] most important book but one of the most important books ever produced in this country.”
— New Yorker -
“The novel that foreshadowed Donald Trump’s authoritarian appeal.”
— Salon -
“Written at white heat.”
— Chicago Tribune -
“A message to thinking Americans.”
— Springfield Republican -
“A cautionary tale about the fragility of democracy…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.”
— Library Journal (starred review)
Awards
-
Audible.com Bestseller
-
An Amazon.com Bestseller
-
An NPR Pick for What Do Contested Conventions Look Like?
It Can’t Happen Here Listener Reviews
Be the first to write a review about this audiobook!
About Sinclair Lewis
Harry Sinclair Lewis (1885–1951), the son of a country doctor, was born in Sauk Centre, Minnesota. He attended Yale University, where he was editor of the literary magazine, and graduated in 1907. After a few of his stories had appeared in magazines and his first novel, Our Mr. Wrenn (1914), had been published, he was able to write full time. He was awarded the 1926 Pulitzer Prize for Arrowsmith (1925) but refused to accept the honor. However, he accepted the Nobel Prize awarded him in 1930. He was the first American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
About Grover Gardner
Grover Gardner (a.k.a. Tom Parker) is an award-winning narrator with over a thousand titles to his credit. Named one of the “Best Voices of the Century” and a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine, he has won three prestigious Audie Awards, was chosen Narrator of the Year for 2005 by Publishers Weekly, and has earned more than thirty Earphones Awards.