By Patrick Baron

NORMAL – A book published over 80 years ago has seen a dramatic increase in sales since Donald Trump took office less than three weeks ago.

Sinclair Lewis’ “It Can’t Happen Here” tells the story of Buzz Windrip, a United States Senator who promotes himself as a champion of traditional American values to defeat Franklin Roosevelt to the White House.

Executive Director for the Sinclair Lewis Society and professor of English at Illinois State University Sally Parry explained how the book, published during the Great Depression, tells the story of a society in a place of uncertainty with autocratic leaders.

“Along with ‘1984’, ‘Handmaid’s Tale’, and that sort of thing, I think ‘It Can’t Happen Here’ is  kind of connected to a certain unrest in our country right now,” said Parry.

Parry explained people are finding similarities between Windrip and Trump. Parry said similar to Trump, Windrip was able to modulate what he was saying based on the audience, becoming all things to all people.

“In some ways, especially in a time when a lot of people were desperate, 20 percent of people were unemployed much less under-employed. And I think that many people said ‘oh this guy says he has all the answers. He knows what to do’,” said Parry.

Parry said in the past weeks she has been discussing “It Can’t Happen Here” with several news outlets. She explained she is excited to be discussing the book after being part of the Sinclair Lewis Society since 1980.

Patrick Baron can be reached at [email protected].