"It Can't Happen Here" stands alone amongst Sinclair Lewis's later novels as measuring up to his earlier works like "Main Street" and "Arrowsmith". While it is not in the same league as those earlier works, it at least brought out the fire that was lacking in most of his later works.

"It Can't Happen Here" chronicles the rise of an American dictator. Lewis intended this work not as a real life account of how someone might subject the American people to his will but as a warning to America to be on guard.

When the book was published in 1935, several European countries had already succombed to the threat of dictatorship. In at least one of these countries (Germany), the dictator was welcomed in by a majority of the people. Lewis really didn't see this as the threat facing the United States, that the American people would welcome in a dictator, but that the American people would grow complacent and be less vigilant against the encroachment of their freedoms by an overweening government.

The weakness in "It Can't Happen Here" is that Lewis makes the assault by Senator Windrip too naked. The complacency that Lewis was railing against would have very likely been blown away by the maneuvers of Windrip. It would have been better had Lewis used the slow erosion of freedom as his basis for dictatorial government, kind of like what Americans are facing today under the nanny-state.

It is pretty obvious in hindsight that Lewis's model for Windrip was Louisiana Senator Huey Long. President Franklin Roosevelt considered Long to be the most dangerous man in America. I would think that Long probably would have been far more subtle in his actions than the caricature that his Buzz Windrip.

Sinclair Lewis' greatest achievement with "It Can't Happen Here" is his ability to reflect the subtle holds that Fascism can take in an otherwise rational and democratic country. Each step of the plot, no matter how seemingly insignificant or unrelated, contributes to the inevitable political conclusion. As the story progresses, it gradually becomes clearer to the reader how our individual prejudices and selfish desires can collectively turn us against the very freedom America prides itself upon.

Fascism is here viewed as an implosion of American culture: the weight of mass media, of the desire for security and comfort, and of endemic nationalism caves in at the touch of a charismatic politician. Lewis exposes the weaknesses in our country's foundations; he shows a careful yet precarious balance of society and politics where we otherwise think we are solid. As others have noted, this book preceded the rise of Nazism in Europe. It is a testament to Lewis' grasp of fascism that much of his novel was mirrored in the chaotic climate of 1930's Germany and Italy.

Where the book falters, however, is in some of its more outlandish caricatures of the villains, including orgies, bed-time assassins, and overwrought speeches. Despite the power of these metaphors, they weaken the plausibility of "it can happen here." Nonetheless, this novel serves as an excellent warning against the dangers of cults of personality and of mob mentality. I strongly recommend "It Can't Happen Here" to remind anyone that the freedom of thought should not be taken for granted.

Is it really possible that this cautionary tale about fascism coming to the United States (in all-American garb) is out of print in 2003? With George W. Bush in the White House and "pre-emptive" war seemingly only hours away?
I don't remember this book being in the same league with "1984" and "Brave New World," but it does fill in important gaps in the cautionary picture. A marketing manager at a major publisher would NOT need to be a whiz in order to make this a minor bestseller.

Kingsblood Royal is largely successful at what it attempts. The reason I didn't give it five stars is because there are a few one dimensional characters in it. Though Lewis tries for complexity in his African American characters, in a few of them, he misses the mark. And occasionally the book suffers from that "can't we all just get along" ness that enlightened Caucasians can't help but aim for in books like these. Overall, though, the book is a great success. What struck me time and time again, was the rage with which this nation has demonstrated its belief in the resolute inferiority of black African genes. That having only 1/32nd black African ancestry could cause people to view you entirely differently, proves the potency of the belief that one drop of identifiable black African blood, poisons the entire pool. I recommend this book to anyone who seeks to really understand the racial craziness of America.

There was never an author who understood the mind of the Middlewest better than Sinclair Lewis. I liked his characterizations in Main Street, Babbitt and Arrowsmith. When I found this book, I didn't know what to expect. It's a little like jazz: if I have to explain it to you, you don't understand it. (Only in the Middlewest would the Blue Ox National Bank Building be the tallest building in a town called Grand Republic.) Here, Lewis describes the racist attitudes of the folks in progressive Democrat-Farmer-Labor Minnesota. This would be an excellent novel for high school students. They most likely won't grasp the sarcasm, but it will help them get a better grasp of racism and white "priviledge". The US in 1947 was still a white man's country. Considering how many people have conniptions over Huckleberry Finn, I wonder how many high schools have this on their reading lists, or even know the novel exists.

What if you discovered you were part black? Only 1/32nd, not enough to darken your skin, but beyond the pale in 1947. When Neil Kingsblood uncovers his heritage, he also discovers his conscience, finding it difficult, finally impossible to not express his outrage at the racial status quo.

It is important to note that Kingsblood has so internalized the beliefs of his community about racial purity that he soon comes to see himself as being a "Negro," and not simply the bearer of a small amount of nonwhiteness (something not unusual in America). When he comes out--a phrase Kingsblood often uses and one that takes on additional resonance today--the white community instantly sees him as being a racial imposter, a black outsider. He understands his transgression, he knows what he is losing, but does it anyway, and even when further experience reveals just how much is at stake, he does not back down, giving Kingsblood a nobility he lacked before the revelation.

Lewis's characters are felt-through creations, not cardboard cutouts. Although the novel's violent conclusion was considered melodramatic by white critics back then, several decades of truth-telling since 1947 have proven the hard-core truth of Lewis's premise: racism and violence go hand in hand.

But what gives the novel its emotional drive is Kingsblood's relationship with his wife, Vestal. Not an outright bigot--she's too well-bred for that--Vestal is both fiercely loyal to her husband and dismayed by his annoucement, yet over the course of the novel you see her attempts at growth and in the novel's denoument, her final decision.

It's a novel that is suited for adaptation to the screen, with the added advantage nowadays of there being so many well-known African-American actors. A quality movie, in fact, would be much in line with Lewis's ethos of writing in an accessible style to reach the masses but with a social activist message. It would be an eloquent rebuttal of the novel's initial poor reception.

Both Mainstreet and Babbitt are critical and realistic apraisels of life in America. More specifically mid-western America. Carl Van Doren commented saying,"Not one of them ( the contemporaries of Lewis) has kept so close to the main channel of American life as Mr. Lewis or so near to the human surface. He is part of a channel and a surface. To venture into hyperbole, not only is he one American telling stories, but he is America telling stories." These books once swept the nation with controversy due to their honesty of American life. I would recommend these books to anyone who enjoy books about people and the details concerning their lives, dreams and aspiratins. Lewis slowly draws the reader into the ever intricate and mediocre lives of the characters. While the stories are rarely fast paced they are certainly worth the read. If I had to make any recommendation I would advise reading Babbitt first due to the fact that it is more involving and fluid than Mainstreet. In addition to the two novels this book is published under a beautiful binding made to library standards. Enjoy.

I read "Main Street" several years ago. It impressed me then and the memory of it has stayed with me. I had previously read "Babitt" and "Arrowsmith" which were both good novels but neither compared to "Main Street". Both previous novels poked fun at small town middle America. As a resident of North Dakota, I got a good chuckle over Lewis's portrayal of Arrowsmith's brief trip to our fair state. My recollections of "Babitt" are that it was rather satirical in its' imagery of a shallow well-to-do man. All of us could chuckle at him because he reminded us of so many people we knew. The impact of "Main Street", to me, is how we see the world through the eyes of the main character; the doctor's wife. She is a real person dealing with real observations about real people in a real community. Something in her clicks and says, "this is all too shallow, too plastic, too predetermined". We agree with her and yet feel somewhat uncomfortable in doing so because there is so much that she questions and much of it we have already accepted. I was extremely impressed with Lewis's portrayal of this feminine character and how he chose her (as opposed, for example, to her husband) to be the eyes of his reality. For that time and place, it was, I think, a bold move on the author's part. And it works! I remeber the impact of her questioning her relationship with her husband. It almost seemed like a scene out of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers".

This book was the one that made Lewis notorious in his own home town. I expected to have to appreciate the times to be able to appreciate the book. I found myself sensing issues and scenarios that are just as common and real today. If you only have time for one book by America's first Nobel Prize-winning author, I recommend that you select this one to read. You won't be sorry!

Sinclair Lewis takes a distasteful and controversial subject and spins one of his best books that I've read. The book examines the feminist / women's suffrage during the early 1900's through the 1930's by following Ann Vicker's life. He covers her experiences with: abortion, voting rights, marriage, sex rights, and divorce.

However, the primary focus of the book is on the cruel and primitive jail conditions at the time. Ann's call in life is to run a prison. Lewis unabashedly describes the gory details of the torture and living conditions that Ann finds through her first experiences.

The characters in the story, especially that of Ann Vickers, are clearly drawn out. However, I found some of the "innocent" criminals to be a little too fake. At times I felt like Lewis was trying to tell me that all people in jail didn't deserve to be there. However, Lewis does make some poignant observations about punishment and the politics involved with it.

Overall, a great book and I would recommend that all Lewis fans or those with a passing interest in feminism / women's suffrage or jail conditions in the early 1900's to read this book.

Dissatisfied with her first job at the St. Paul Library, Carol Milford finds assurance in the solid (older) form of Dr. Will Kennicott. The newlyweds establish themselves in Dr. Kennicott's hometown of Gopher Prairie, Minnesota. Here Carol runs head-on into the obstacle of local society. Her struggle to find fulfillment in these small-town surroundings, fighting town gossip, promoting new ideas, grasping at illusions, is the story of Main Street. Lewis' brief foreword anticipates the "malling" of America, and the standardization of our experiences. As Carol becomes more stifled by her surroundings, her anger is palpable, and Lewis' modern sensibility shines through. As an example, in the middle of another banal dinner conversation, "Carol reflected that the carving-knife would make an excellent dagger with which to kill Uncle Whittier." As you read, you will be shocked at how true Lewis' Main Street of 1920 is to our Main Streets of today. Enormously successful on publication, Lewis' best novels (Main Street, Babbitt, Arrowsmith, Elmer Gantry) continue to illuminate this country's psyche. Enjoy a classic, and gain an appreciation of this under-read American master.

Advice for first time readers of Sinclair Lewis: Start with Main Street. I started with Babbitt, a worthy novel, but inferior to Main Street. They share a nimble, though often heavy handed touch of irony, and good characterization; and Mr. Lewis' trenchant social commantary is present in both.

We all know the story: Carol Kennicott (nee Milford), educated at tiny Blodgett College, wants action: She wants to travel and live in a big city where she can see plays and hobnob with intellectuals. She meets future husband Dr. Will Kennicott at a St. Paul dinner party; (Throughout the novel, her feelings toward Will oscillate between admiration for his efficient practice and good nature, and discomfort with his depthless character). Will coaxes Carol onto a train bound for the hamlet of Gopher Prairie, Minnesota. The bulk of the novel, which, considering the context, could be considered picaresque, consists of Carol's haphazard attempts to reform the obdurate, immobile mindsets of the citizens of her new home. Among the improvements Carol suggests are a library board composed of the well read men of the town, and a campaign to renew interest in reading (In a town where the great books are bypassed for the contemporary moralistic, optimistic, and religious authors), and a theater company containing one fine actor and a supporting cast of hams, who bungle through one play (the frivolous "Girl from Kankakee"; poor carol had Shaw or Sophocles in mind. Throughout the novel, Carol evinces a blinding fear of living as a stereotypic denizen of the American Main Street; her fears are intensified by the birth of her son another fetter that could prevent a night train escape from Gopher Prairie), and the loss of several friends (the most notable being Miles Bjornstam, a Swedish horse trader who leaves for Canada after his wife's death) Made desperate by the seeming ineffectuality of her reform efforts, and these fears of decline into a town matron, Carol runs off to Washington D.C. for a period, before returning half broken to Gopher Prairie, tractable while still picturing herself as a maverick.

A five star review does not preclude qualms over a piece of literature. Main Street is truly a marvelous book, but there are flaws. Irony peppered moderately in a story can lend life and humor; too much can overwhelm the reader with a sense that the author has no other crutch than easy, predictable amusement. Also, this being an episodic novel, there sometimes seems to be little tying the book together save for the overpowering contagion of yearning for excitement, reform, and freedom that leaves Carol and others in Gopher Prairie so disappointed. These should not be deterent enough to suggest you steer clear of Main Street, though. As with every marred but overall fantastic booke light breaks the dark for the reader willing to overlook flaws that, were he or she writing the novel, he or she couldn't have ironed out. As glorious a work of literature as it is an historical document, this is a delight for any serious or recreational reader.

Main Street is a classic story demonstrating the fascinating mentality of Midwestern America. It is best personified in the great character study of the beleaguered Carol Kennicott, who left the big city and dreams of culture to exist in mediocrity and banality in the small town of Gopher Prairie, Minnesota. The reader is taken along her tumultuous life in this small town with her husband and family. At times the book is slow and can seem depressing. As a student from the Northeast who moved to the Midwest for college, it genuinely helped me gain a greater understanding as to why people act as they do in the Midwest. While Lewis wrote this book in 1930, his lessons are still applicable today in understanding human social interaction.

As a huge fan of "Babbitt" and especially "Main Street," I was happy to have come across an old edition of "Dodsworth" in a used bookstore. I tore into it eagerly but soon came up short. Neither satire like "Babbitt" nor as psychologically astute as "Main Street," the book reads like something from a middle school book club. The colloquialisms are corn-pone, far more prominent than in "Babbitt." Sam's reactions to his ocean voyages and to Europe are child-like, as are his inner responses to his wife's intolerable behaviors. The soap opera-ish inner monologues do not ring true, containing embarrassing proclamations about Great Europe and marital resolutions. Sam Dodsworth is painted as so naive, trusting, xenophobic and insecure that it is difficult to accept that he had an Ivy League education and was a master of business and industry.

The characterizations, in fact, strain credibility. How a man 50 years of age, president of an auto manufacturing company, can be so entirely innocent of the customs of the U.S. and the world outside his small city is baffling. He evidences no ability for making small talk, is ignorant of all current events and politics, is absent of even minor social charms with the rich-- all of these traits are overexaggerated for the purposes of the book. That Dodsworth and his wife have such a sudden disaffection and disenchantment ignores the certain difficulties of raising two children and navigating 20 years of maariage. It seems unlikely that Fran's pretentions emerge only on their trip. Certainly her preferences and choices in managing a family would have foreshadowed these problems.

A common criticism of Lewis's body of work is its uneveness. The depth and success of "Main Street" are contrasted with many of his later writings. I found "Dodsworth" too to read more like a novelization of an early screenplay, exaggerated and distorted for dramatic effect.

"Dodsworth" harkens to a day when you took time to read books, to savor words, descriptions, phrases, conversations between people. This is not a fast beach read, but a book to enjoy at a slow pace matching the flow of the text. Conversations go on for pages, with characters speaking in paragraphs, not sentences of 4 or 5 words. The book is an exploration of the mood and mind of Dodsworth, a retired American industrialist, still very much in the prime of his life, who is cajoled into taking his wife on an open-ended trip to Europe. The wife, battling the on-coming middle age years, flirts outrageously, and this leads to romantic entanglements. Dodsworth is left to fend for himself, and returns home, where he longs for his wayward spouse. Returning to Europe, he finds little changed and they agree to divorce. After fumbling around the contintent, Dodsworth finds a woman to love, but then his wife is dumped by her latest paramour and Dodsworh is faced with the choice of returning to his mate of 20 plus years, or setting out on a new course. You can feel his pain in coming to his decision. This book is a terrific discourse on the Ugly American as well as the phony European royalty. Both sides are equally distasteful, but interesting none-the-less. The only reason I didn't give this book five stars is that Lewis seems to rush the ending. The resolution comes too quickly compared to the pace of the rest of the book. It's like the author thought, "Well, I've got almost 400 pages, so let's wrap it up." By the way, there is a very good movie made of the book featuring Walter Houston. It's available on video and very faithful to the book.

No doubt, this one is for your 'must read' list. When you put it down, you will feel you've lost contact with some great characters, that you've really got inside a marriage, that you've seen life the way it can be.

Samuel Dodsworth is an automobile magnate in the early years of the business. When his company is bought-out, he's left free at age 50, to do whatever he wants. But he has a slick, steel-willed, glamorous socialite for a wife and she has ambitions of climbing. He had always been "too busy to be discontented, and he managed to believe that Fran loved him.""(p.11) Sam gets roped into an extended European tour. Turns out, he's just an escort and backdrop for her movie. He experiences rising discomfort as she worms her way into European high society (or what she takes to be such). The trip gives both of them the first chance in decades to find out who they are---the common motif in literature and life of travelling to discover yourself---and they realize that they don't have much in common. Their European experiences transform them. On a visit back to the States, Dodsworth finds that he has changed; he can't regard his old friends, their old routines and concerns, and their ways with the same equanimity. They have become provincial and empty in his eyes, but what has he become ? He slowly comes to the conclusion that he's cut loose from all the went before, but has no direction for the future. He takes up several possibilities, but is caught among the rocks of loving the wayward Fran, wanting to do something useful in the world, and needing love himself. It's a long haul, but he makes it. Lewis skillfully keeps the psychological tension going to the very last page. Great stuff ! As for Fran, you'll have to read the book.

DODSWORTH is a psychological study of the first order, sincere, unpretentious and so well-written. It is not a satire on the lines of "Main Street", "Babbitt" or "Elmer Gantry", but a serious novel in the full sense of the word. Samuel Dodsworth comes across as a solid man of conservative nature who may have once been in a rut, but learns to think far more than people ever give him credit for, particularly his wife. He becomes flexible and learns to live, while Fran only continues to consume and demand. The plot plays itself out amidst a background of constant discussion as to what makes an American, what makes a European and what are the differences ? While this theme fascinated Henry James and numbers of other writers, it seems a bit passé in this day of the Web, 7 hour flights across 'the pond', massive tourism, MBAs in Europe and great museums in America. Still, it's part of the ambiance of the 1920s when this novel was written. The slow dissolution of the marriage, the contradictions of personality, the existence of strengths and weaknesses, aggressive and passive roles in both husband and wife, the psychological disintegration and re-building of a man's self-image-these are the main themes of DODSWORTH. It's one of the great American novels.

I read this book expecting to find a well written, entertaining and historically accurate piece of fiction based on the cover blurbs. The book may have been researched, concerning McClellan saddles and post-Civil War uniforms and some battles on the northern plains. Some of the characters even ring true to their historical reputation. However, the great number of spelling errors and factual inaccuracies leave me distrustful of all the "facts" portrayed in the book. Most glaring of errors was the rising sun in the West on page 179 of the hard cover edition, followed a few pages later by the mention of "crape myrtle." The author's attempt at slave dialect left me totally cold. Perhaps I could be mistaken about the rank of Sergeant Major, but prior to June 1, 1958 the title of Sergeant Major was the designation of a position and not a rank. The designation was given to the senior noncommisioned officer of a regiment who was also the senior noncommissioned administrator of the regiment. What could have been a great book was ruined by the lack of an editor. Hopefully the next book in the series will be edited prior to printing. The steamy sex scenes added little if any to the over all effort and could have been somewhat less explicit. After reading other reviews of this book, I believe that those reviewers read a different edition.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes a good, fast-paced historical adventure. Lewis is a good storyteller, as well as a careful historian. The book, which tells the story of Nate Gordon, an African-American "buffalo soldier" on the western frontier, is well-plotted, action-packed, and very atmospheric, really putting you there on the ground with Nate. Lewis is also very attentive to historical detail, perhaps a bit too much so for some readers who may not want to know all of the technical and historical detail, but this is a minor quibble. More importantly, Buffalo Gordon provides us with an African-American hero of the "wild west," reminding us that it was not only the stereotypical "Marlboro (white) Man" who populated America's western frontier. Nate is a bit one-dimensional in the sense of being perhaps too perfect (he never behaves badly, always does the right thing), but that is largely what heroes are about. Lewis's writing style is not perfect - this is apparently his first novel, and he is still finding and perfecting his voice - but he is a fine storyteller, the writing is perfectly serviceable, and as the series continues, I imagine he will further hone his narrative skills. Overall, I give it five stars because I wholly enjoyed it (raced through it actually), and look forward to Nate's further adventures.

For readers who enjoy fast-paced, historical fiction, I highly recommend Buffalo Gordon. Even though the post-Civil War, American frontier does not rank high on my list of interesting historical eras, I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about it through the exciting adventures of Nate Gordon. Mr. Lewis has provided a well-researched account of this period with a fresh and dramatic fictional perspective. The book also is timely and in step with recent publications about African American military history, including Gail Buckley's AMERICAN PATRIOT. I recommend an earlier review of Buffalo Gordon by Celia DuBose on this site. She succinctly summarizes the book and provides an excellent critique of the book that is "spot on" in my opinion. I look forward to reading Mr. Lewis' sequel to Buffalo Gordon.