Flags Out Front: A Contrarian's Daydream

by Douglas Wilson

"Well, this was it. Caesar had his Rubicon. What did Bible college presidents have? A Rubik's Cube?"

Tom Collins, mild-mannered president of a dwindling Bible-belt college, starts taking fire when a drunk prankster swaps his campus's American flag with the Christian one, and Tom refuses to "fix" the situation. Big media, exuberant students, petty enemies, and pretty secretaries all play a part in this happy-go-lucky satire from the award-winning author of Evangellyfish (Best Fiction of 2012, Christianity Today).

Readers of PG Wodehouse's Leave It to Psmith and Christopher Buckley's Thank You for Smoking will appreciate this lighthearted new satirical novel.

Genres: Fiction, Christian, Novels, Christian Fiction, Satire, Humor, Cultural

196 pages, Paperback

First published April 25, 2017

About the author

I write in order to make the little voices in my head go away. Thus far it hasn't worked.

Reviews

[Winnie Thornton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. So much fun. Political intrigue, romance right and left, hilarious press conferences—the works. I can put down any novel (including Lewis and Tolkien) but I can’t put down Doug Wilson. This one ranks just below The Man in the Dark and The Asahel Affair.

Doug is a Lewisian writer in that what he thinks about everything is secretly present in what he says about anything. His heroes and villains are incarnations of virtues (and vices) he has preached from the pulpit for years. His plot hails straight out of his many blog musings on American exceptionalism, envy politics, and the lordship of Christ. His love for his characters (and his gift of grace in their failings) is honestly who and how he is.

Besides being a super entertaining and inspiring story, Flags Out Front proved to me—the cherry on top of Evangellyfish, The Man in the Dark, and The Asahel Affair—that who you are is crucial to, and inseparable from, what you write. When we write, our words reveal us, just as the spoken Word reveals the God the Father. So a central mission for the Christian writer is to make sure he is who he should be before he sits down to write. The more you love God, the more you understand (and love) people, the more you've latched onto the way the world and politics and human nature really tick, the more you will have to say and the better you will you say it. So here’s good motivation to get in God’s Word, get out in His world, and see. Then say.

[John Boyne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious and entertaining! A great book to enjoy during a break.

[Rick Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doug here is channeling Belloc, Beerbohm, and Wodehouse. It doesn't rise to the dizzying heights of old Plum's zaniness, but it's witty and fun, and I read it in a day. It reminded me most of Belloc because of the sharp barbs lurking just below the funny.

[Yibbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wilson used his wonderfully witty way with words to create a crackerjack cast of characters, but he has also included several ‘mild’ curse words. It was nothing you wouldn’t hear on broadcast TV, but I was deeply disappointed by it. Especially, as the main lesson is to stand fast for Christian truths and standards.
I can see how it would be extremely popular with conservatives who felt under attack in American politics in past years. With a wonderful sense of the absurd, Wilson marches his heroes to victory over every liberal opponent and trick. It was funny. I just wish that it didn't include the swearing.

[ValeReads Kyriosity · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a hoot. A sharp, stabby hoot. Like its predecessor, Evangellyfish, it skewers with surgical precision and with the utmost affection for the sheep and no love lost for the wolves. C'mon. Under the knife with you. The laughing gas will make the procedure hurt less.

[Jack W. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Either a Rom com for homeschoolers or an extended proverb on the importance of strategic thinking as Christians in a post Christian world. Every Christian college student should read and sift for application ;)

[Emma Whear · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe my favorite Wilson satire. Tight, Wodehousian, and charming.

[Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An enjoyable satirical romp. While I felt it started abruptly, needing a good bit more setup at the beginning, this brisk little novel settled quickly into a good pace and the story developed in genuinely surprising directions—surprise being one of the most important but underappreciated parts of satire. The story ranges widely, targeting everything from Christians for whom nationalism is more important than their faith and the hypocrites who often run Christian colleges to our unscrupulous and deeply opportunistic media, power hungry politicians (even the supposedly conservative ones), reporters, activists, and the Leviathan of the state itself.

This is the second satirical lampooning of the intersection of college, culture, and politics I’ve read this year, after Scott Johnston’s Campusland, and while I think that novel has a sharper edge and a harder eye for the kinds of self-righteous corruption we’ve embraced, I certainly enjoyed this one more.

Amusing all the way through, with a couple genuine laugh-out-loud moments in the final third and a great zinger of an ending. I’d really enjoy seeing this turned into a film.

[John Dekker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most enjoyable books I've ever read. It is funny and engaging all the way through.

It concerns a fictional fundamentalist Bible college in the American South (called Choctaw Valley Bible College), and its mild-mannered president, Dr Tom. One night a prankster switches the flags at the front of the college so that the Christian flag is higher than the American flag (see the cover illustration). Dr Tom decides to let it remain like that, and a controversy ensues.

Flags Out Front is all about what being a faithful Christian looks like in modern America. Wilson makes the point that faithful Christians will have enemies on both the left and the right of politics.

Wilson includes plenty of humorous asides, and has obviously been inspired by P. G. Wodehouse in both his plot and his choice of words. This book has instantly become one of my favourites.

[David West · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun romp. The premise of the book - a Bible college leaving the Christian flag flighing higher than the United States flag - can't but yield good humor. I read this while on vacation. Lighthearted and fun.

[Peter Bringe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very fun! This book is basically the fictional version of Wilson’s book, Rules for Reformers, which I finished reading just before starting this one.

[Josh Bishop · Rating 5 out of 5]

A light-hearted, delightful little read. Definitely a "contrarian's daydream," as the subtitle has it, because nothing ever turns out half so well (or so fun) in real life. But that's sort of the point. One can dream, and, in the meantime, one can read this book.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really fun and funny work of imaginative fiction. What happens when the Christian flag is raised higher than the American flag? Who would protest and why?

Wilson shows that it is a lot of red state conservatives that would likely protest, and I think he's right.

I really enjoyed this, and recommend it as a fun, diversionary read.

[ValeReads Kyriosity]

Trevor is Cyrus and Antigone's cousin, a tidbit I completely missed when I read if five years ago and which now blows my mind and tickles me to death. This discovery eclipses any other thoughts about the book.

Read by the author.

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

LOL!

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining, witty, and sprinkled with enough well placed allusions to provide the slightly smug satisfaction of an inside joke. A fun weekend read that brings out the lighter side of the dark realms of politics and the academy, and topped off with a generous, not-too-sweet dollop of romance.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

So...there were things I liked and things I didn't like so much. No kidding, right?

First I must say I did get a kick out of this book and it was fun to read. The narrative was easy and light-hearted...however, there are a lot of things that...just weren't very impressive.

The idea here overall I can appreciate, but there were some very distracting elements.
For example, nothing works out that well for the good guys every time. That being said I am aware that this is satire and that the subtitle to this book is: A Contrarian's Daydream...so yeah. It feels like a daydream.

While it is satire I don't believe that it is done very well. It does not do good things to the credibility and strength of your argument when you make all the "good guys" these extremely communicative and witty fellows who always win the argument and all the guys with opposing opinions - the "bad guys"- ... less than brilliant fellows who stumble around and are proud while doing it. They are out there don't get me wrong but not all "bad guys" are that way. What makes men bad is not that they're stupid, it's that they're deceived. This book made them look stupid, so there was no true opposition - satire or not and I think that detracted from the argument of the book majorly.

I don't have much to say about the romance. It was a daydream too lol Trevor was my favorite character and he and Eve were pretty funny.

Overall there was a fake sense conflict throughout the whole book and so when the resolution came it didn't feel as though we had won the argument so much as contrived the victory.

[Caleb M. Powers · Rating 3 out of 5]

While Doug's satires are clever and amusing, once you've read one, you've read them all.

[Matthew Groen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such an interesting read. Fiction, but with the spice of Wilson's truth-telling ability, this book was really satisfying. Knowing some of the crap that Wilson has gone through, and having been near the epicenter of a Bible School controversy myself, this book rang true and depicted how these things go incredibly accurately. Mildly hyperbolic at times with the various characters (the good guys are REALLY good and the bad guys REALLY bad), but not overwhelmingly so. The battle lines are rarely this clean, but it was helpful to speed the narrative along.

The main point I took from this book is the need for good and Godly men and women to know their Bibles, know how to think through and argue for Biblical ethics, and to have a spine. It was evident throughout that the Lord was working providentially to bring about everything for his peoples' good and for his glory (Romans 8:28), but it still required real people to make real choices about how they would respond in those situations. Courage is needed, now more than ever.

A really encouraging, short, and fun read for Christians living in a world like ours.

[Raquel (Silver Valkyrie Reads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

While officially this book is simply filed as contemporary humorous fiction, I think at it's heart it's really a fantasy story. That is, it's not quite how the real world works most of the time, but like good fantasy it's great picture of deeper truths about the world and how it *could* work and should work.

I thoroughly enjoyed this whole book, and it's definitely my favorite Doug Wilson novel I've read so far.

While quite discreet about avoiding all details, this book does contain references to extra-marital affairs and similarly inappropriate behavior, as well as a lot of politics, manipulation (in both good and bad lights/situations), and handling of the truth with various degrees of care. Because of all this I wouldn't recommend it for very young readers.

[Haley Most · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was chaotic and unhinged. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and its characters. Steeped in ironic quips. Doug loves to weave (much like a political figure in recent news) but he always brings it back—often in surprising or unexpected ways. At times, and more toward the end of the book, it felt like Doug was tired of writing and therefore recycled some phrases. With that in mind, and some typos, I can only give 4.5 stars. To my surprise, there were a few words I hadn’t heard of and I am pleased to add moot and bloviated to my vocabulary.

[JR Snow · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s not deep or even memorable. There are no vast and complex turns and twists of plot. But this book is designed to be a light, breezy Wodehousian romance novel written for evangelicals who have been to a Christian college. Wilson gets the characters pretty spot-on, and I would know, having attended a very similar Bible college in the same vein of Choctaw Valley. Perhaps I could have been Trevor!


An easy and enjoyable read, with some embedded lessons as well.

[CJ Bowen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three and a half stars. This one was quite fun, and I laughed out loud several times. I'm very glad for all the Toms, Trips, and Trevors of the world, but we can't all be Joe Boffins, and so when I found a kindred spirit in Wendell P. Hodges III, I was glad for him that even the rule followers have their part to play in life's little dramas.

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

So Much Fun

Overall, this book was just a bucket of fun to read. I love Wilson’s writing style, and it shone through. The story line here felt very real and definitely applicable to America today. At times it felt like things were working out too well for the good guys, but I think that also added to why this was a fun read. Fun to imagine the frustration from the enemies. I had a hard time getting into this book at the start, but read the last half in less than a day.

[Miles Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

good read and provocative

This is a worthwhile read and a good story. I’m not really wedded to Doug Wilson still logical predispositions, but I think he raises instant points about the American order and about American appreciate it here. I just wish she wasn’t so wedded to conservative Evangelical sociology.

[Luke Waters · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot rate this book highly enough. Quite an addicting novel. Wilson, hilariously witty as always, propelled me through pure states of side aching laughter, adrenaline-filled excitement, and fist in the air celebration. He left me longing to read more about the romances like a teen girl having finished Twilight, or your mom after reading some cheap romance novel with a kind-hearted but shirtless cowboy/doctor/construction worker/veterinarian/single dad/ seducing her and every other mom on the cover. I fully intend on re-reading. Thanks, @Jack Waters for the recommendation.

[Eileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable read. It was a nice break to read such a pleasant little novel for a change. Gave more clarity into the attacks of the day and the on-going divisiveness of the left. Oh well! What's new?

Thanks, son, for giving this to your Dad for Christmas!

[Tim Zornes · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story ends kind of abruptly like a Looney Toons character running off a cliff several paces before realizing he's run out of road. Fun story, interesting characters. Thought provoking social issues, even if they're hypothetical.

[Donald Owens II · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful. The man is a student of human nature, of modern Christendom, and of PG Wodehouse. Need I say more?

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful and piercing social commentary fairy tale.