One Nation Under God

By Vincent M. Wales and TurtleMe

In the year 2021, eleven-year old Mary Christopher is the spunky daughter of the latest President vowing to return America to its righteous roots. Her mother is a well-known ?family values? activist,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0974133701
• ISBN13: 9780974133706
• Release Date: December 2004
• Publisher: DGC Press
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.0" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Changing the Face of Literature

This coming of age novel is remarkable for a couple of reasons. First, it presents an American theocracy in the near future where civil rights go down like dominoes and church-state conflicts roil in the very bosom of the First Family. In this dystopia, the religious right controls all branches of government. We are privy to 12-year-old Mary's covert emails as she wrestles with big religious questions. As her father's two presidential terms of office unfold, Mary is increasingly captivated by the ideas of a powerful underground movement aimed at unseating her father and his political allies. We also get occasional peeks into the President's own anguished diary, and his wife's. In this family of three, people do not easily converse with one another, though they appear to love each other. The novel's structure is as revealing as the story. Marshall McLuhan famously wrote, "The medium is the message." This story moves forward with confidence and energy solely by means of emails, blogs, diary entries, websites, newspaper articles, and broadcast speeches - all predigested materials without a shred of connective tissue between them. Wales stands every so-called rule of fiction on its head, and yet the book is a page-turner. I had serious trouble putting it down once I figured out the players. I stayed up reading too late at night. The message from the medium is a basically a positive view of social change brought by communications technology. The horizons of a lonely child are as wide as the web, and she can "talk" earnestly about important matters to friendly strangers - a good thing since the neighbors or grandparents of previous generations are absent. This is a world where strangers deeply connect and form political and social alliances without ever meeting face to face, and where people present themselves in tidy electronic formats instead of trailing haphazard impressions in their wakes as they blunder through a messy world. But the flip side is a pervasive, disturbing emotional distance. Eagerly I awaited the moment when Mary would meet the stranger she had emailed so many years. I had built the man up in my mind, but "in the flesh" he seemed ten sizes smaller. The mystery had evaporated from The Voice of Reason. Mary mentions no such disappointment in her writings, but that doesn't mean she didn't feel it. Still, one imagines she did not. If a person has never known intimacy, she might not recognize age-old cues of body language, chemistry, and sparkle in the eye. It almost seemed a sad relief to return to cyber space - where so many people today spend increasing amounts of time. Perhaps even more evocative of the dark side of this brave new world is the book's climactic scene. It is not viewed through the actual eyes of any protagonist, but through the palm-sized electronic screen of an TV journalist as he stands in the backyard of a 2-story house while mayhem is happening inside, upstairs. A tiny lens on the tip of his tele

A chilling view of a possible future

Many of us who consider ourselves Secular Humanists view the current political climate with a good deal of trepidation. Never before in the history of this country has so much political rhetoric been specifically aimed at the needs and concerns of one particular special interest group. The group in question happens to be large, powerful, and seems to be pretty much controlling a major political party. The Republican party has been hijacked, and we are closer to a theocracy than we realize. All it would take is one more Republican victory, and a couple of additional vacancies on the court, and this country would be plunged into the dark ages. This is not idle speculation, but a very possible future. One Nation Under God explores that future from the viewpoint of the daughter of a future President. The book details the forming of the theocracy and the initial steps taken by the new government to quell dissent in an extremely believable, and totally unique manner. We watch events unfolding through the girl's diary, email correspondence, and web pages. We watch as her life is totally changed forever by her own perceptions. We watch as she grows and matures as the country is changing radically in response to the policies of the new government. It is chilling, it is believable, and, worst of all, it could happen here within a few years. The foundations for One Nation Under God have already been laid, and the joists are being set down as we watch. I very much enjoyed the book, especially it's unusual format. I found it easy-to-follow, and exiting right up to the end. Anyone who is concerned about the direction of America should read this book, and then donate to Americans United for the Separation of Church and State!

"Prophetic"

A chilling look at what may be the near future of the US. Given the enormous political power of the fundamentalist Right and its likely effect on the future Supreme Court, this book may no longer be considered "fiction". The format is unusual, but very interesting and effective.

AN ABSOLUTE MUST READ!!!

If you're looking for a book you won't be able to put down - this is the book! Not only does it reveal many an important message (some of which are quite chilling), the messages are delivered in an engaging and entertaining way. This book would appeal to anyone from teens to late adults. The format is unique and adds to the book's intrigue. Wales does an amazing job of creating characters the reader will love, characters the reader will identify with and characters the reader will love to hate. It would be a shame not to read ONUG!!

Wide Audience Appeal

Wales takes us on a journey down the path of theocracy in the United States. The book only uses pages from diaries, emails, and web pages, as well as clippings from news reports to tell his saga. This distinctive approach to storytelling is vital to getting closer to the characters; it makes the story more personal as you submerge deeper into the personal turmoil and triumph faced by the characters. You won't want to put the book down because you must know what happens next to each character as the plot thickens and the drama plays out in front of you. I found myself finishing a chapter and glancing at a clock to see that it was three in the morning. Wales takes us into what a possible theocracy in the United States will look like and how it will affect people through the writings of those creating the theocratic policies and those affected by them. One of the main characters affected by these policies is the daughter of the very theocrat pushing his religion upon the citizens of the United States, even if he is nothing more than a marionette in the hands of another power-hungry theocrat. Historic theocracies have turned corrupt and such holds true in Wales' story. Wales looks at numerous issues that are at the heart of social debate today and weaves them into his story seamlessly. When you finish reading the book you'll find yourself pondering these issues and thinking about people affected by such issues. You may not change your mind or stance, but at least you'll be thinking about it. A sign of a good book is not just a good story, but a story that makes you think and ponder the issues; a story that makes you consider things with a different perspective and perhaps, just perhaps, persuades you to be more accepting of people that are different than you. Wales' book should appeal to a wide audience, from all ranges of life, regardless of their religious affiliation, sexual preference, political position, ethnic background, or social belief. If more people understood the ramifications of theocracy there might be fewer people desiring one in the United States.