# Which novel do you think best depicts the US and the rest of the world over the next 4+ years?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-novel-do-you-think-best-depicts-the-us-and-the-rest-of-the-world-over-the-next-4-years/1010574>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** books-writing-myths\
**Created:** [November 21, 2024, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-novel-do-you-think-best-depicts-the-us-and-the-rest-of-the-world-over-the-next-4-years/1010574 "2024-11-21T20:44:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\
**Post date:** [March 2, 2025, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-novel-do-you-think-best-depicts-the-us-and-the-rest-of-the-world-over-the-next-4-years/1010574/21 "2025-03-02T13:17:52Z")

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> [@Der\_Trihs](#):
>
> A mix of _1984_ and _The Handmaid’s Tale_, followed by _On the Beach_; once the system starts to fall apart because of their actions and it becomes obvious they’ll lose power I expect the fascists to do their best to kill all of humanity out of spite.

I should have added _[The Turner Diaries](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Turner_Diaries),_ as it’s a major inspiration for the Right. It’s just that the RL ending will be _“nukes fall, everyone dies”_ instead of _“white nationalists rule the world forever”._

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**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\
**Post date:** [March 3, 2025, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-novel-do-you-think-best-depicts-the-us-and-the-rest-of-the-world-over-the-next-4-years/1010574/22 "2025-03-03T00:28:03Z")

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In 1935, [It Can’t Happen Here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Can%27t_Happen_Here) by Sinclair Lewis captured the current zeitgeist. Hint: it’s not an optimistic future.

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**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\
**Post date:** [March 3, 2025, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-novel-do-you-think-best-depicts-the-us-and-the-rest-of-the-world-over-the-next-4-years/1010574/23 "2025-03-03T05:15:19Z")

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There’s a YA novel, [The House of the Scorpion](https://www.amazon.com/House-Scorpion-Farmer-Nancy-Hardcover/dp/B01071CLHG/ref=sr_1_3?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.vEzwzJy2bhCNID84vqjVnpCILhCyAYi0dAhbrwd1R2sQB9aDsfYhq25yH8lgcvt8Tc03Kfry7sxQp60n0v2OOpUjP9bPRzKdZnBN_fK4zBwrzGiIuMZMnGmnSTVYaH7ZtnDAuJbnxoIT-1oSCfayl9hQjzHruaS0o3p67M3itWmtnEWNKE4uXm9mU5Z3itXwBJhEblF9RyFsR_rrCAZtSlYhIYlu1IQVeqjLVjppubY.xW-7cP5j3fC0PzmYdaOWHWl3Z_b2R5Od1ea2rso8_aA&dib_tag=se&keywords=House+of+the+Scorpion&qid=1740978431&sr=8-3) , which features a diminished United States whose top political figures curry favor with the richest man in the world, El Patron, a ghoulish narco-trafficker who is the head of state of a new country, Opium, which occupies a strip of land on the US/Mexico border. If you’ve read the book, you might see a plausible reason Elon Musk has for fathering over a dozen children. Anyway, this book gets my vote.

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