Sinclair Lewis - It Couldn't Happen Here with Daniel K. Williams

Christians Reading Classics · Sep 25, 2025 · 54m · transcript

Nadya Williams and historian Daniel K. Williams examine Sinclair Lewis's 1935 novel "It Can't Happen Here," analyzing its treatment of democracy, authoritarianism, and religion's political role. Their discussion covers what qualifies a work as a literary classic, the historical circumstances surrounding Lewis's writing, and how his observations about democratic institutions' vulnerability and the manipulation of religious sentiment for political ends continue to resonate with contemporary American political debates and concerns about authoritarianism.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Sinclair…