History YMMV / ItCantHappenHere

** Lewis' depiction of a revolution fought without a large, educated class of citizenry turned out to be frighteningly prescient of the fate of many post-colonial states. Many newly-independent countries, where investment in infrastructure was limited largely to what served the colonial metropole (namely resource extraction) as opposed to building a genuine native middle class (which every colonial power understood would [[MajoredInWesternHypocrisy become a key support base for the independence movement]]), found themselves locked into cycles of poverty, dictatorship, and civil war, the people easily led by demagogues who made empty promises.

** The book was written during the rise of UsefulNotes/NaziGermany, when Jews and political opponents were already being targeted and deprived of their rights. Only a few years later, Nazi Germany began waging a [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII world war of conquest]] which ended up killing tens of millions, while simultaneous sending millions of Jews and "undesirables" to the deaths in [[UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust systemic, large scale killings]] - cruelties that far exceeded that of Windrip's.

* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome[=/=]NightmareFuel: [[spoiler: When Shad is imprisoned in the Trianon camp, several of his former victims conspire to kill him. Through a ruse, they set Shad's room on fire. The screaming, terrified Shad burns to death, and his corpse was so badly burned as to be unrecognizable.]]

* {{Squick}}: The torturers at the Trianon camp force-feed Doremus a large quantity of castor oil, which has a predictable (and gross) result. (The castor oil treatment was a favorite of Mussolini's Blackshirts.)

** Many commentators noted the similarities between the politics of Windrip and UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump, who was elected US President in 2016 on a populist platform championing the return of traditional values and restoring the country to prosperity. Fortunately for the US democratic system, Trump's government, while controversial, never reached the authoritarian excesses of Windrip's, and a plan by Trump supporters to invade the US Capitol and overturn the results of the 2020 election (which Trump lost) ended in failure.

* HarsherInHindsight: The book was written in the early days of the Nazi regime, and yet proves eerily prescient.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Is Emma a [[ApatheticCitizens politically apathetic]] woman who ignores the threat that the Windrip regime poses? Or a pragmatic survivor who stays safe by keeping her head down?

* OnceAcceptableTargets: Gay men. The novel depicts gays such as Lee Saranson and several unnamed M.M. men as depraved, promiscuous villains. In a more modern work, such depictions would be deemed homophobic.
** Note, however, that Ernst Rohm, one of Hitler's early supporters and a key figure in the Nazi Reich, was a pretty "out" homosexual, and Lee Saranson is a fairly obvious {{expy}} of Rohm. Many of the details, including his tastes in personal aides, are relatively accurate. Furthermore, Rohm actually ''did'' have his own conflicts with Hitler. Part of the motivation behind the Night of the Long Knives, which took place not long before this book was published and thus likely after the book was actually written, was the perception that Rohm was wishing for more power. It's not helped by the fact that some of what fueled the paranoia was his own words--complaining about having used political means instead of violent revolution may have been merely rhetoric for public consumption, but still...

* ValuesDissonance: The novel's homophobia may seem jarring to some modern readers. The only gay characters in the novel -- Saranson and several unnamed M.M.s -- are depicted as depraved villains. See Once Acceptable Targets above.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Is Emma a [[ApatheticCitizens politically apathetic]] woman who ignores the threat that the Windrip regime poses? Or a pragmatic survivor who stays safe by keeping her head down?

* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome / NightmareFuel: [[spoiler: When Shad is imprisoned in the Trianon camp, several of his former victims conspire to kill him. Through a ruse, they set Shad's room on fire. The screaming, terrified Shad burns to death, and his corpse was so badly burned as to be unrecognizable.]]

** Even more horrifying is the fact that Windrip's rise to power (and some of his xenophobic policies) resembles that of current U.S. President [[Creator/DonaldTrump Donald Trump]]. (Sales of the book on Amazon soared after his election).

** Note that Ernst Rohm, one of Hitler's early supporters and a key figure in the Nazi Reich, was a pretty "out" homosexual, so Sinclair may have based Saranson on him.
*** Lee Saranson is basically an {{Expy}} of Rohm, and many of the details ''including'' his tastes in personal aides are relatively accurate. Rohm actually ''did'' have his own conflicts with Hitler. Part of the motivation behind the Night of the Long Knives, which took place not long before this book was published and thus likely after the book was actually written, was the perception that Rohm was wishing for more power. It's not helped by the fact that some of what fueled the paranoia was his own words--complaining about having used political means instead of violent revolution may have been merely rhetoric for public consumption, but still...

* ValuesDissonance: The novel's homophobia may seem jarring to some modern readers. The only gays in the novel -- Saranson and several unnamed M.M.s -- are depicted as depraved villains. See Once Acceptable Targets above.
* ValuesResonance: The Windrip regime's racism toward blacks and Jews is depicted as bigoted, during an era when such bigotry was more commonplace in society.
** Also, the novel depicts feminism favorably and has several strong, intelligent female characters. Lorinda, Sissy, and Mary are all brave, active, politically-conscious women. Lorinda in particular was a feminist activist in her younger days, and spends part of the novel secretly teaching a group of working-class women.
** The novel takes misogyny and sexual violence against women seriously. When the Windrip regime robs women of jobs and rights, it is depicted as unjust. Similarly, M.M. acts of violence against women are rightfully depicted as atrocities.

** Even more horrifying is the fact that Windrip's rise to power (and some of his xenophobic policies) resembles that of current U.S. President [[Creator/DonaldTrump Donald Trump]].

** Even more horrifying is the fact that Windrip's rise to power (and some of his xenophobic policies) resembles that of the 2016 Republican candidate [[Creator/DonaldTrump Donald Trump]].

*** Lee Saranson is basically an {{Expy}} of Rohm, who actually ''did'' have his own conflicts with Hitler. Part of the motivation behind the Night of the Long Knives, which took place not long before this book was published, was the perception that Rohm was wishing for more power. It's not helped by the fact that some of what fueled the paranoia was his own words--complaining about having used political means instead of violent revolution may have been merely rhetoric for public consumption, but still...

* MomentOfAwesome / NightmareFuel: [[spoiler: When Shad is imprisoned in the Trianon camp, several of his former victims conspire to kill him. Through a ruse, they set Shad's room on fire. The screaming, terrified Shad burns to death, and his corpse was so badly burned as to be unrecognizable.]]

* ValuesDissonance: The novel's homophobia may seem jarring to modern readers who accept LGBTQ people. The only gays in the novel -- Saranson and several unnamed M.M.s -- are depicted as depraved villains. See Once Acceptable Targets above.

*** Arguably, Lee Saranson is basically an {{Expy}} of Rohm, as is most of the Windrip regime.

* CompleteMonster: Saranson, Haik, and the more sadistic Corpos.

** After the M.M.s haul Doremus off to Trianon, Emma seems more concerned about the mess they made than her husband's well-being. Is she a callous wife who is unmoved by her husband's incarceration? Or has she runderstandably stopped loving Doremus because he cheats on her with Lorinda and endangers their family with his activism?

* {{Squick}}: The torturers at the Trianon camp force-feed Doremus a large quantity of castor oil, which has a predictable (and gross) result.