Looking for a piece of political fiction

May 8, 2006 5:12 PM

PoliticalFictionFilter: Looking for a book from the 60s about an America gone very mad and how the good guys became worse than the bad guys to bring it down.

This is a long shot. The US has gone mad, building up an "ally" and then waging war on it. By the time of the story, they're up to World War 6, I think. The resistance operates by infiltrating the government and being absolutely the most brutal overlords to both wreck any efficiency and force the people to rise up simply to survive. At the end, the protagonist rides a train home incognito, ready to resume his life.

I'm almost certain it was published in the 60s, had a blurb from McGovern on the cover and a picture of man with his hands up and his face down in front of a red curtain. Anyone? Anyone? Thanks in advance.

posted by codswallop to media & arts (4 comments total)

I gave it a good try earlier in the night, but I just couldn't dig up anything. Wikipedia's list of fictional wars had nothing, Googling for "World War VI" yielded nothing applicable. I'll be curious, though. Do us a favor and post back here if you find out the title by other means; I'd like to pick the book up myself.
posted by WCityMike at 7:42 PM on May 8, 2006

Do us a favor and post back here if you find out the title by other means; I'd like to pick the book up myself.

Seconded. I tried to hunt around for this last night on google as well but couldn't find anything either. Are there any other details you can remember?
posted by clarahamster at 1:22 PM on May 9, 2006

That's pretty much all I can remember. I've googled for this book off and on for about as long as there's been a google.

Well, I can remember a few other things but they're trivial. One ideologue in the government knows what they're up to and he has to be taken out. The book was mostly red, including the edges of the page. Possibly it came out in the early 70s and, on reflection, maybe the blurb was from Goldwater.

I'm never going to find this thing. :( Wish I had a clue what happened to my thrift store copy. It disappeared in a cross-country move 12 years ago.

If I ever find it, I'll let you two know.
posted by codswallop at 8:00 PM on May 9, 2006

Here's a thought: ask a librarian for assistance, too. They are fantastic at tracking down books with incomplete information to go off of.

Also, try Usenet — rec.arts.sf.written would probably be of great help to you.

And now I'd really like to read this, so let us know when you find the title! My e-mail is wcitymike at ncr dot com -- but reverse those letters between the "at" and the "dot." (Hopefully that'll be enough spamproofing.)
posted by WCityMike at 5:01 PM on May 10, 2006