![]() Popsugar Reading Challenge category: A book where the main character is a politician. The Moon Is Down, by John Steinbeck. This is a fable set in an unnamed country in Nazi-occupied Europe. When the town is invaded, it offers little resistance at first, partly due to the efforts of a local collaborator who has dreams of replacing the Mayor. Mayor Orden has had a comfortable life up until now, and he's never had to be brave or heroic. The invasion's leader, Col. Lanser, spouts the usual abuser's excuses about how it'll be easier for everyone if the town cooperates, as he wants to "avoid bloodshed." The Mayor admits he's "confused" and doesn't know what to do. But he also knows that, unlike the invaders, his people are "a free people" who are not dependent on a single leader. The townspeople know an armed rebellion would be crushed. So they find their own way, slowing down work at the vital coal mine, disrupting transportation, and seeking outside help to get dynamite. The invaders frantically try to keep the rebellion down. And the Mayor finds his courage. (As for the collaborator, it turns out that neither side thinks much of a traitor.) The book was banned (and illegally distributed) in several countries during World War II. Partly because of its undermining of fascist propaganda - but also, I suspect, because of its explicit instructions on handling dynamite.
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