If you’ve been reading my site for long, you know I do not really do book reviews. The entire category for Books is only 24 posts long, and most aren’t actually reviews of books I’ve read. And I read a lot. I average 1-2 books a week, and, yes, mostly fiction. Primarily science fiction and mystery/thrillers. And zombies. I’ve been reading lots of zombie books the past year or so on my Kindle. They aren’t really about zombies, they are really more of the end-of-the-world and how people handle it type books. They just happen to include zombies instead of nuclear bombs and such.
Anyhow, I picked up An Act Of Self Defense the other day for Kindle, and have barely been able to put it down. Here’s what I wrote in my review over at Amazon (I rarely write reviews there, either. I read ’em and move on)
It’s hard to believe that this is Mr. Lewis’ first book, it is extremely well written, and truly makes one see the problems with run-away and ever expanding government. Mr. Lewis seems to take great pains to not identify the characters as liberal, conservative, libertarian, Democrat, Republican, etc., while working in the way so many of the professional politicians speak. He also takes great pains in not over-doing the discourse.
While I certainly do not condone the methods the main characters use to attempt to get term limits for Congress passed, it wouldn’t work well if they said “pass term limits or we’ll use bad language.” It’s a fiction novel based on very real issues that confront this country, and obviously needed some oomph to make it go. Quite understandable.
No matter what side of the political aisle you reside on, this is the must read book.
I mean every word. Here’s the Amazon blurb on the book
It is ten years into the future and the nation is nearing economic collapse. A professor of economics has convinced a small, but exceptional group to act. They believe dictatorial powers will soon be claimed by Washington’s political aristocracy. “Ours is the only form of revolution now possible. But it has an advantage. Our method requires only the lives of the individuals that have stolen our liberty, our lives, and our property.” Congress is given three days “to approve a Term Limits Amendment to the Constitution and send it to the people for their approval. Or the long term incumbents, unless they first resign, will be term-limited in the only way you leave us.” The Department of Justice begins a vengeful and bloody hunt for the terrorist group. But when the first senator is term-limited it is clear the terrorists will not be easily found. They are inside the federal government. In this novel, the same questions asked throughout history are asked again. Is deadly force justified to defend liberty? Who decides? Under what conditions?
If you must read one book, particularly a fiction book, this is the one. If you’ve read John Ringo’s “The Last Centurion”, this is even better. But, even more important, the author, Erne Lewis, takes great pains to avoid partisans identification as much as possible. There is enough in there to make everyone sit up and take notice. There is even a short portion, no more than a paragraph long, that has me reconsidering my position of delayed notification, otherwise known as “sneak and peak”.
The “letters” the Term Limits Revolution, the main characters, release in the book to explain their position are incredibly well written manifestos, reminding many reviewers of documents such as the Federalist Papers. I’d love to excerpt one, but, alas, can’t unless I type from the book, and, really, you should just read it.
Great to know about this. Thanks William.