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American Values
Conspiracies are not meant to be understood. America in the Fall of 1963. The aging “Big A” has been President since he beat Roosevelt in 1932 and passed the Defense of American Values Act to establish his dictatorship. Thirty years on, the United States is locked in a war to conquer South America. Racial minorities are persecuted, homosexuals killed, and African Americans have disappeared from public view. The country is worn-out and dilapidated, and people wait to see who will succeed the Old Man. In high places, Nixon and the Kennedys maneuver against each other under the watchful eye of J. Edgar Hoover. Harry Bennet is a foreign correspondent for the Manchester Guardian, posted in Washington and treading warily in the political minefield. He is helped by his best friend, Jeb Lyman, but it is a dangerous friendship since Jeb is a high official in the feared General State Police and deeply implicated in the politics of the regime. Yet Harry has to trust him to protect the woman he loves, Maria, whose racial ancestry may not stand up to investigation. Harry learns of a mystery patient secluded in one of Washington’s hospitals. Following up the lead takes him across the decaying landscape of an oppressed America to Chicago, Las Vegas, Louisiana and Texas. Ultimately his investigations embroil him in a murderous conspiracy to inherit the Presidency and he finally obtains an answer to the terrible secret hidden behind the public face of American Values.
382 pages, Paperback
Published December 4, 2017
About the author
Jim Williams
138 books26 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 8, 2018
An alternative history book where Adolph Hitler becomes President of the United States, and appoints himself ruler for life based on the need for "American Values". American values being the removal of all non-white people, homosexuals, and anyone else that he deems not fit to be in America.
A somewhat slow moving book, I was able to predict the plot and ending pretty early on.
A somewhat slow moving book, I was able to predict the plot and ending pretty early on.
March 14, 2018
The United States of America as a Dictatorship?
Ruby reviews American Values by Jim Williams
Alternative histories are a tempting canvas for historical fiction writers. The “What if?” question might be, for example, a different outcome to a major battle or war, the survival of a key figure who died relatively young or the early demise of a stabilising character. Sometimes the novel places another perspective on a famous historical event that is shrouded in some mystery, offering an explanation where conspiracy theories hold sway.
American Values by Jim Williams uses both of these devices and places the reader in a 1963 which has already seen three decades of Presidential rule by a charismatic individual who has turned democracy into a dictatorship, founded upon his nationalistic American Values policy. The figurehead, “Big A”, is a despicably familiar character who rose to power during a time of American crisis, survived attempts to depose him and built a formidable police state around his personality cult. But no one lives forever and the natural end of his reign is approaching.
“Big A” is not, however, the main figure in American Values so much as a key component explaining the context of how America could have become an authoritarian country ravaged by decades of large-scale wars fought on foreign soils. The Old Man is expected to depart soon and the life or death race for succession is on. Harry Bennet, a foreign correspondent, is the main character in this historical thriller and we see through his eyes how thirty years of “Big A” has resulted in a society where no one trusts anyone, colleagues, friends and family are encouraged to denounce each other, and multiple security forces compete for primacy.
Harry starts out with good intentions but becomes tangled in the General State Police web when he falls in love with Maria, whose racial ancestry might not stand up to American Values’ scrutiny. Harry’s first favour for the regime results in a bullet in the brain for a government operative and Harry is left holding the smoking gun. He and Maria go on the run and begin to discover too much about American Values.
Some might say that a country like the United States could never become an authoritarian society; that institutionalized racial persecution would not be tolerated by the free-thinking populace; that the USA would never send all of its young men abroad to defend and secure the nation’s interests and conquer the enemy. But the country has arguably never had a dominant charismatic leader in a time of crisis. Lenin and Stalin’s impact upon the USSR was profound and their legacy endured long after the characters departed. As for the key actor in 1930s Germany…what if?
Jim Williams takes dark aspects of human nature from other parts of history and transplants them into the fertile soil of American Values. The result is a gripping and harrowing tale from which no one emerges covered in glory, but at least some survive.
Ruby reviews American Values by Jim Williams
Alternative histories are a tempting canvas for historical fiction writers. The “What if?” question might be, for example, a different outcome to a major battle or war, the survival of a key figure who died relatively young or the early demise of a stabilising character. Sometimes the novel places another perspective on a famous historical event that is shrouded in some mystery, offering an explanation where conspiracy theories hold sway.
American Values by Jim Williams uses both of these devices and places the reader in a 1963 which has already seen three decades of Presidential rule by a charismatic individual who has turned democracy into a dictatorship, founded upon his nationalistic American Values policy. The figurehead, “Big A”, is a despicably familiar character who rose to power during a time of American crisis, survived attempts to depose him and built a formidable police state around his personality cult. But no one lives forever and the natural end of his reign is approaching.
“Big A” is not, however, the main figure in American Values so much as a key component explaining the context of how America could have become an authoritarian country ravaged by decades of large-scale wars fought on foreign soils. The Old Man is expected to depart soon and the life or death race for succession is on. Harry Bennet, a foreign correspondent, is the main character in this historical thriller and we see through his eyes how thirty years of “Big A” has resulted in a society where no one trusts anyone, colleagues, friends and family are encouraged to denounce each other, and multiple security forces compete for primacy.
Harry starts out with good intentions but becomes tangled in the General State Police web when he falls in love with Maria, whose racial ancestry might not stand up to American Values’ scrutiny. Harry’s first favour for the regime results in a bullet in the brain for a government operative and Harry is left holding the smoking gun. He and Maria go on the run and begin to discover too much about American Values.
Some might say that a country like the United States could never become an authoritarian society; that institutionalized racial persecution would not be tolerated by the free-thinking populace; that the USA would never send all of its young men abroad to defend and secure the nation’s interests and conquer the enemy. But the country has arguably never had a dominant charismatic leader in a time of crisis. Lenin and Stalin’s impact upon the USSR was profound and their legacy endured long after the characters departed. As for the key actor in 1930s Germany…what if?
Jim Williams takes dark aspects of human nature from other parts of history and transplants them into the fertile soil of American Values. The result is a gripping and harrowing tale from which no one emerges covered in glory, but at least some survive.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews