"Not only [Lewis's] most important book but one of the most important books every produced in this country." - The New Yorker. "Written at white heat." - Chicago Tribune. A cautionary tale about the fragility of democracy, It Can't Happen Here is an alarming, eerily timeless look at how fascism takes hold. Written during the Great Depression, when America was largely oblivious to Hitler's aggression, it juxtaposes sharp political satire with the chillingly realistic rise of a democratically elected president who becomes a dictator. During the presidential election of 1936, Doremus Jessup, a newspaper editor, observes with dismay that many of the people he knows support the candidacy Berzelius Windrip. When Windrip wins, he 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.