Some novels ask ‘What if?’ and there are novels that ask ‘What is?’ Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle manages the perverse trick of doing both at once. Set in a United States divided between Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan after an Axis victory in the Second World War, it ought to … Continue reading The Man in the High Castle: History as Hallucination
Tag: USA
A Bullet for Speech
Tonight, I’m angry. And incredibly sad. Charlie Kirk has been shot. Not shouted down, not argued against, not reasoned with - shot. A husband, a father, a Christian, and the founder of Turning Point USA - an organisation dedicated to challenging groupthink and encouraging young Americans to think freely. And for this, he was struck … Continue reading A Bullet for Speech
Invisible, My Eye – Reflections on Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man
When Ralph Ellison published Invisible Man in 1952, America was still congratulating itself on having beaten the Nazis and saved democracy. Yet here was a novel calmly pointing out that a good chunk of its own citizens were treated as if they didn’t exist - or rather, as if they existed only when they could … Continue reading Invisible, My Eye – Reflections on Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man
The Madness of Crowds and the Lonesome Road to Sanity
I felt the unmistakable itch of a good, old-fashioned rant coming on - the kind that bubbles up like a kettle left screaming on the hob, demanding release before it scalds the lot of us. As for the sordid details of why, well, I shall spare you the tedium. Some things are best left festering … Continue reading The Madness of Crowds and the Lonesome Road to Sanity
Wording 