Nancy B.
The similarities to the US in the 1920s and today are striking:
Spanish flu -- COVID-19
black people still fighting for justice & equality
The way Harry Turtledove wrote the election of 1920 seemed just like the 2016 election of Donald Trump. It is brilliant. I felt just as depressed reading it as I did in 2016.
Featherstone was writing his "Mein Kampf" while he's trying to become president. He wasn't a struggling artist, but he was held back in rank unfairly.
If Turtledove is sticking to history, it makes sense that Featherstone would be a racist. He's like Hitler, but the US had a massive surge in the white nationalist movement in the 1920s.
Quotes I liked from the book:
A party that shouts for freedom doesn't want it.
Do we want them to think of nothing but paying us back?