Like others, I read this novel of Fascism coming to America to see whether it had any insight to offer into Donald Trump's election. The world of the novel is sufficiently different from the world today that it doesn't offer a useful guide to 21st century politics, but it's still interesting in other ways.

The book was written in 1935, when Mussolini had invaded Ethiopia, after the election of Adolf Hitler, and after decades of Soviet rule in Russia, but before World War II. It's interesting to see how attitudes, and our perception of history, have changed: to Lewis, the worst thing imaginable is the butchery of the Great War; he has no idea of the horrors of World War II. In the book, the guards in concentration camps are brutal and sadistic, and yet not as brutal or sadistic as what actually happened in the decade after the book was written.

One big difference between 1935 and today is that in the book — and in the real Soviet Union and other countries — the American totalitarian regime helps maintain itself by confiscating and controlling printing presses, paper, and ink, to prevent the resistance from disseminating propaganda. Today, when we all have a dozen social apps on our phones, this isn't feasible.

At times, the modern reader will struggle because Lewis refers to forgotten celebrities. My advice in these cases is simply to plow through; it'll get better after a page or two.