The Liberal Politics of Adolf Hitler
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It is fifty years in the future and the individual nations of Europe no longer exist. New Democracy rules. Elections are considered divisive and a thing of the past, power has been fully centralised, and cheerful Controllers make the decisions for the good of the masses. Conformity means freedom. Big smiles, easy debt and lots of nice words mask a corporate-driven, closet dictatorship. When special police unit Cool come to take you away they arrive with fresh coffee and blueberry muffins. But resistance groups are fighting back.
In London, ambitious young bureaucrat Rupert Ronsberger uses Suspicion software to identify threats to the system, stumbling across a shocking murder just as Controller Horace is about to arrive in the city. At the same time Kenny Jackson – a member of the outlawed GB45 – leaves a free town in the West Country and heads towards the capital. Despite the best efforts of Cool, the three men are set on a collision course.
The Liberal Politics Of Adolf Hitler predicts a time when the internet is embedded in the human body, having morphed into propaganda/surveillance tool InterZone; correct thinking and a denied censorship crushes individual expression; physical books, audio and film are illegal; the people’s culture is cancelled or sold back to them in distorted forms; and enforced digitisation has seen history edited, deleted and rewritten, so that even the most wicked of individuals can be reinvented.
John King’s dystopian novel imagines a future firmly rooted in the present day, and is a dark satire that merges absurdity and humour with the terrors of a new brand of totalitarianism made possible by Big Tech – a nightmare society that we should see coming.
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Additional information
| Publisher | London Books, UK ed. edition (25 May 2016) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 288 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 0956815588 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0956815583 |
| Dimensions | 19.7 x 2.3 x 13.1 cm |
by Becky
You’ve probably already read comparisons with this book and Orwell’s 1984 – and deservedly so. The two reviews already written describe events much better than I could, so not much to add from me in that respect. On page 101 there is a classy tribute to ‘PUSH’ magazine (edited by Joe England) when the character Kenny is given a bag of books to read that have been kept safe and passed down and treasured. (Google it to find out more – yes this is a plug for ‘PUSH’!) For any Chelsea fans who have read King’s other work, you’ll notice some great little features (Kenny once had a cat called Zola) and – I won’t spoil it for you – but wait for the bit when Kenny travels back to London and goes for a few pints. Great stuff. The book throws up some uncomfortable (but necessary) predictions. In the current climate of poliitical division, friends falling out on Facebook over EU voting and our media controlled by a rich Australian – it does make you think about what you want from life, can I simplify my life somewhat, do I want my children to have a smart phone in the palm of their hand for the rest of their days, or is there a better way to live?
by Amazon Customer
The idea of the book was great – but the book itself was so disappointing. You can blame the EU for a lot but what has the EU got to do with animal cruelty and paedophilia?
by Rob Sedgwick
I thought this book was really awful and a rip of 1984 but without any meaningful characterisation. It was a real slog to read as far as I managed and I’d rather he’d written a non-fiction book that go through the motions of dressing up political ideas in a novel. I loved all his earlier books, this is a departure in a new direction, nice try but totally failed for me.
by Lord Copper
….read this a few years ago. Enjoyed it. Picked it up again and became fixated on how much of the future it accuratley predicts. You can see events unfolding and society changing in real time in line with nartative provided in this novel. Dystopian brilliance. Should be up there with 1984 and a Clockwork Orange.
by Ernest Joslin
A really interesting read introducing various characters whose paths eventually cross with a totally unexpected twist.
by L. Taylor
I own & have read all of John King’s other novels and I rate him as one of my favourite British writers, but I just could not get into this book. I did finish it, but it was a bit of a slog for me. I realise it is good for writers to try different styles and I was not sure about one of his previous books, ‘The Prison House’ to start with, but I got in to that later and enjoyed it. However this latest book just as not for me.
by Amazon Customer
I tend to leave politics to politicians, and while I’d like to leave my personal opinions out of the public eye, one of the things I applaud about this book is the fact that (albiet in a fictional future landscape) it cocks a snoop that the “liberal” left who so frequently overwhelm the literary planet. From my own personal experience with British publishing I’m amazed that this book has been made it into the mainstream with its such obvious digs at the Guardian Reading community.
If you’re a fan of Mr King’s earlier work, Football Factory, England Away etc this is a departure in it’s futuristic context, but King’s values hold true.
If King is your cup of Earl Grey, give Last Seen in Bangkok a go.
Last Seen in Bangkok
by “harry_fox”
An excellent read which keeps you on your toes.