I agree that "It Can't Happen Here" isn't Lewis' best work. I brought it up only because of the repeated use of the phrase by some participating in threads on the Homeland Security Bill, etc. I've never thought that Lewis intended the book to be anything but a one dimensional satire to begin with--I don't think the book was as serious an effort at a novel as his other works (ie Main Street, Arrowsmith).

While "1984" and "Handmaid's Tale" might be better books, I think the cautionary tale of "It Can't Happen Here" works much better metaphorically for what we are seeing today. Sinclair Lewis asks the question – what if some ambitious politician would use the 1936 presidential election to make himself dictator by promising quick, easy solutions to the depression. Indeed, what would happen if some ambitious politician would use the 2000 presidential election to make himself dictator by promising quick, easy solutions to the most spectacular attack against the US on it's own soil since the second world war?