It Can't Happen Here - Annotated Audiobook By Sinclair Lewis cover art

It Can't Happen Here - Annotated

Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

It Can't Happen Here - Annotated

By: Sinclair Lewis
Narrated by: David Rosen
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $24.95

Buy for $24.95

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

The novel describes the rise of Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip, a demagogue who is elected President of the United States, after fomenting fear and promising drastic economic and social reforms while promoting a return to patriotism and "traditional" values.

It Can't Happen Here is the only later Sinclair Lewis novel that can compete with Main Street, Babbitt, and Arrowsmith in terms of impact. It's a scary, oddly timeless look at how fascism could take hold in America, and it's a cautionary tale about the fragility of democracy.

It juxtaposes biting political humor with the chillingly realistic ascension of a president who becomes a dictator to save the nation from welfare fraud, sex, crime, and a liberal press during the Great Depression, when the population was largely naive to Hitler's aggression.

It Can't Happen Here, a surprisingly prescient novel that remains as fresh and current as today's news, was dubbed "a message to thinking Americans" by the Springfield Republican when it was first published in 1935.

©2021 Sinclair Lewis (P)2022 Michael Goodrich
Literature & Fiction Witty
All stars
Most relevant  
Good narrator. Chilling story to know in the enlightened year of 2022. Remember, "It Can't Happen Here."

Chilling

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.