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It Can’t Happen Here
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Poster for the Federal Theatre's 1936 staging of It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis.
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It Can’t Happen Here

novel by Lewis
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Article History

It Can’t Happen Here, novel by Sinclair Lewis, published in 1935. It is a cautionary tale about the rise of fascism in the United States.

During the presidential election of 1936, Doremus Jessup, a newspaper editor, observes with dismay that many of the people he knows support the candidacy of a fascist, Berzelius Windrip. When Windrip wins the election, he 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. Jessup opposes him, is captured, and escapes to Canada.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.