Scan barcode
troyc's review against another edition
4.0
"That which has been, is that which is to be, and that which has been done, is that which will be done, and there is no new thing under the sun." Ecc 1:9 (BBE)
horrific_child's review against another edition
2.0
What a weird, hyperbolic little book. Definitely written by a lawyer. AND! The Secretary of Agriculture is named Pence! So, you know, time travel.
The weirdest thing about this book is that I think Tolkien must have read it because it also has a "Dawnless Day" that occurs in early March. Coincidences are fun.
Best read out loud with old-timey oratorical bombast.
The weirdest thing about this book is that I think Tolkien must have read it because it also has a "Dawnless Day" that occurs in early March. Coincidences are fun.
Best read out loud with old-timey oratorical bombast.
acarman1's review against another edition
3.0
This book was touted as "the book that predicted Donald Trump" and that it certainly was not. While Trump has been cast as a neo-Populist and the book does end with a leader governing only in the interests of the south and west, William Jennings Bryan really has little in common with Trump. The Populist platform of governing in the interests of the poor and downtrodden really aren't anything like Trump and the rich people turning into martyrs because President Bryan is requiring them to pay an income tax is a far cry from the work Trump did to protect the wealthiest of the wealthy. It also partakes of its time in its casually racist descriptions of African Americans and indigenous folk. It is, however, an interesting tale that shows the real fear rich folk felt then and now about anyone breaking their stranglehold on the republic and the real dangers of governing in the interest of only part of the population instead of the whole Union.
little_lettie's review against another edition
1.0
This was very funny, but honestly quite bad. Like real bad. I do believe that the only way to enjoy this properly would be with a tall glass of wine
sakusha's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
It was a short story about a socialist president bringing massive changes to the u.s. It had some predictive things about trump and biden’s terms as president:
About antifa:
“Mobs of vast size are organizing under the lead of Anarchists and Socialists, and threaten to plunder and despoil the houses of the rich who have wronged and oppressed them for so many years. Keep within doors.”
“Socialism and Anarchism found willing ears into which to pour their burning words of hatred and malevolence, and the consequence was that serious rioting broke out in the larger cities of the North, often taxing the capacities of the local authorities to the utmost.”
About the supposed insurrection:
“from a dozen different points in the South and North West “Coxey Armies” were forming for an advance on Washington. In some instances they were well clad and well provisioned; in others, they were little better than great bands of hungry and restless men”
“calling upon the Government to concentrate troops in and about Washington, and prepare for the suppression of a second Rebellion.”
About blm:
“The gathering crowds could plainly hear the plaintive cries and lamentations put up in the negro quarters of the city.”
“reparation promised.”
“The black man, ever at the heels of his white brother, set to rule over him by an inscrutable decree of nature”
About trump’s vp:
“Secretary Agriculture—Lafe Pence, of Colorado.”
About trump:
“It was like the man who delivered it—bold, outspoken, promising much, impatient of precedent, reckless of result; a double confirmation that this was to be the Reign of the Common People”
““The President must withdraw,” said the Speaker, calmly and coldly, “his presence here is a menace to our free deliberation.”
About ending the gold standard, which i think happened in 1971:
“ruinous and inevitable progress toward a universal gold standard may be stayed, the President orders and directs the immediate abandonment of the so-called “gold reserve,”
About draining the swamp:
“solemn pronouncement of their candidate that there should be at once a clean sweep of these barnacles of the ship of State”
Sort of predicting universal income:
“this new Savior of Society, whose advent to power was to bring them “double pay” for all their toil.”
Democrats wanting to fill the house and senate with those of their party:
“not only must the Senate be shorn of its power to block the “new movement of regeneration and reform” by the adoption of rules cutting off prolonged debate, but that the “new dispensation” must at once proceed to increase its senatorial representation, for who could tell what moment some one of the Northern Silver States might not slip away from its allegiance to the “Friend of the Common People.”
Democrats reckless spending and wanting to tax the rich more:
“Bills for increased revenue were hurriedly introduced, and new taxes were loaded upon the broad shoulders of the millionaires of the nation”
“Was not Paternalism rampant? Was not Socialism on the increase? Were there not everywhere evidences of an intense hatred of the North and a firm determination to throw the whole burden of taxation upon the shoulders of the rich man, in order that the surplus revenues of the Government might be distributed among those who constitute the “common people?”
Happening now:
“Threats of secession”
“People sold what they should have clung to, and bought what they did not need.”
“the Government found itself powerless to check the slow but steady decline in value of the people’s dollar.”
Might happen in the future:
“the division of Texas into two States to be called East Texas and West Texas”
“split into three parts, Eastern, Southern and Western”
“The Fifty-sixth Congress soon to convene in regular session in the city of Washington, was even more Populistic and Socialistic than its famous predecessor, which had wrought such wonderful changes in the law of the land, showing no respect for precedent, no reverence for the old order of things.”
About antifa:
“Mobs of vast size are organizing under the lead of Anarchists and Socialists, and threaten to plunder and despoil the houses of the rich who have wronged and oppressed them for so many years. Keep within doors.”
“Socialism and Anarchism found willing ears into which to pour their burning words of hatred and malevolence, and the consequence was that serious rioting broke out in the larger cities of the North, often taxing the capacities of the local authorities to the utmost.”
About the supposed insurrection:
“from a dozen different points in the South and North West “Coxey Armies” were forming for an advance on Washington. In some instances they were well clad and well provisioned; in others, they were little better than great bands of hungry and restless men”
“calling upon the Government to concentrate troops in and about Washington, and prepare for the suppression of a second Rebellion.”
About blm:
“The gathering crowds could plainly hear the plaintive cries and lamentations put up in the negro quarters of the city.”
“reparation promised.”
“The black man, ever at the heels of his white brother, set to rule over him by an inscrutable decree of nature”
About trump’s vp:
“Secretary Agriculture—Lafe Pence, of Colorado.”
About trump:
“It was like the man who delivered it—bold, outspoken, promising much, impatient of precedent, reckless of result; a double confirmation that this was to be the Reign of the Common People”
““The President must withdraw,” said the Speaker, calmly and coldly, “his presence here is a menace to our free deliberation.”
About ending the gold standard, which i think happened in 1971:
“ruinous and inevitable progress toward a universal gold standard may be stayed, the President orders and directs the immediate abandonment of the so-called “gold reserve,”
About draining the swamp:
“solemn pronouncement of their candidate that there should be at once a clean sweep of these barnacles of the ship of State”
Sort of predicting universal income:
“this new Savior of Society, whose advent to power was to bring them “double pay” for all their toil.”
Democrats wanting to fill the house and senate with those of their party:
“not only must the Senate be shorn of its power to block the “new movement of regeneration and reform” by the adoption of rules cutting off prolonged debate, but that the “new dispensation” must at once proceed to increase its senatorial representation, for who could tell what moment some one of the Northern Silver States might not slip away from its allegiance to the “Friend of the Common People.”
Democrats reckless spending and wanting to tax the rich more:
“Bills for increased revenue were hurriedly introduced, and new taxes were loaded upon the broad shoulders of the millionaires of the nation”
“Was not Paternalism rampant? Was not Socialism on the increase? Were there not everywhere evidences of an intense hatred of the North and a firm determination to throw the whole burden of taxation upon the shoulders of the rich man, in order that the surplus revenues of the Government might be distributed among those who constitute the “common people?”
Happening now:
“Threats of secession”
“People sold what they should have clung to, and bought what they did not need.”
“the Government found itself powerless to check the slow but steady decline in value of the people’s dollar.”
Might happen in the future:
“the division of Texas into two States to be called East Texas and West Texas”
“split into three parts, Eastern, Southern and Western”
“The Fifty-sixth Congress soon to convene in regular session in the city of Washington, was even more Populistic and Socialistic than its famous predecessor, which had wrought such wonderful changes in the law of the land, showing no respect for precedent, no reverence for the old order of things.”
More...