One dystopian novel omitted from Jane Martinson’s article (Media, 19 June) is the remarkably prescient It Can’t Happen Here. Published 82 years ago, this work was the perfect script for Donald Trump’s takeover of the US. The back cover blurb on the Penguin edition reads: “Vulgar, almost illiterate, a public liar easily detected … He was an actor of genius. A vain outlandish, anti-immigrant, fear-mongering demagogue runs for President of the United States – and wins. Sinclair Lewis’s chilling 1935 bestseller is the story of Buzz Windrip, who promises poor, angry voters that he will make America proud and prosperous once more, but takes the country down a far darker path. As the new regime slides into authoritarianism, newspaper editor Doremus Jessup can’t believe it will last – but is he right? This cautionary tale of liberal complacency in the face of populist tyranny shows it really can happen here.”
Graham Stocks
Quorn, Leicestershire
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