I am taking a long hard look at three quotes today. They are related to each other, and to the world I am living in. The first is from nineteenth century French author Victor Hugo in The Man Who Laughs -
What is history? An echo of the past in the future.
That's why I am currenly reading The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer, a book it only recently occurred to me that I needed. The book is a look back at the dystopian Nazi Germany. When I compare the words in the book to what I see when I look around me, I notice how true Mark Twain’s opinion of history was -
History Doesn’t Repeat Itself, But It Often Rhymes
I’m still in the early chapters, and already the parallels between Nazi Germany in the 1930’s and the United States today, from Hitlers failed coup attempt in a beer hall, to the US Capital on January 6, form something resembing a real rhyming poem.
The events of today do not exactly repeat that unsavory time in history, but things are building toward a dystopian Maga America. The Handmaid's Tale is not the only book taking a look at a possible American dystopia. And, in many instances, minorities are already living in one.
After finishing Unlawful Orders, I started work on another historical I am calling American Sparrow, which required me to research Europe during the interwar years, the twenty year period between the first and second world wars. That impressed me in an in-depth look at the fall of Germany’s democracy.
Studying a democratic society being destroyed from within by a minority of its citizens who shunned the rules of a civilized country and followed a charismatic leader. The leader told them they were great, their defeat in the prior war was a temporary setback, their problems were all due to outsiders, and that by following him, they would return to the glory days. That lead to the minority, only about 30% of German citizens, destroying the countries democracy and establishing the cult of Hitler and the Third Reich.
The path from the US Civil War, to now involves a longer interwar period and a more established democracy. But nothing guarantees the American and German poems won't rhyme. Germany had safeguards that should have protected their democracy, and so do we. Will ours work any better, or is the “Second verse, same as the first,” in the words from a song that was popular when I was young. (I'm Henry the Eighth I am by Herman’s Hermits)
In one of his books, Time Enough For Love, Robert Heinlein said,
“Live and learn, or you don't live long.”
How much have we learned? Germany had a highly liberal constitution. Seventy percent of German citizens, the great majority, did not want a dictator. A violent minority, the Nazi party, used democratic freedoms to undermine and topple their democracy. Can we change the rhyme and rhythm and enable the survival of our democratic country? A question that future history books will answer.
If we have not learned from the mistakes of the past, maybe the future will be able to learn from our mistakes.
The paperback edition of Courage, my middle grade novel, was just released by Quill Tree books. Courage is available at your local bookstore.
And in Ocober, my middle grade nonfiction book, Unlawful Orders, will be released by Scholastic to join Courage on the shelves.
