Speaking of capitalist propaganda
Feb. 16th, 2011 11:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
plutherusMany years ago, it may have been 5th or 6th grade, I read, from the school library, a book called, if I remember correctly, Too Near the Sun. It was an anti-communist screed about a kid living on a commune, or in a communist society, or something like that.
All I remember clearly is that he was growing watermelons in his back yard, which gave him something that not everyone else had so the Communists all rose up to destroy him, because, yeah, that's What They Do.
I remember, even at 10 or 11 years of age, that it seemed kind of shallow and jingoistic, and was the first book I can remember noticing trying to make a particular point and in order to make it had to portray the people against it as completely unlike how real people would be in that sort of situation. (There are many others like that, of course, of which Left Behind and Atlas Shrugged are perhaps the most famous examples).
I tried to find it on Amazon recently and, assuming I got the title right, there are at least five books by that title listed, none of which have any reviews, editorial information, or even cover pictures posted.
So, perhaps it's an obscure book, long forgotten by everyone, and perhaps that's as it should be. But, in case it isn't, does anyone here have any idea what book I'm talking about? And, is it really as bad as I remember?
I also vaguely remember writing a book report on it. I wonder if I still have it somewhere...
All I remember clearly is that he was growing watermelons in his back yard, which gave him something that not everyone else had so the Communists all rose up to destroy him, because, yeah, that's What They Do.
I remember, even at 10 or 11 years of age, that it seemed kind of shallow and jingoistic, and was the first book I can remember noticing trying to make a particular point and in order to make it had to portray the people against it as completely unlike how real people would be in that sort of situation. (There are many others like that, of course, of which Left Behind and Atlas Shrugged are perhaps the most famous examples).
I tried to find it on Amazon recently and, assuming I got the title right, there are at least five books by that title listed, none of which have any reviews, editorial information, or even cover pictures posted.
So, perhaps it's an obscure book, long forgotten by everyone, and perhaps that's as it should be. But, in case it isn't, does anyone here have any idea what book I'm talking about? And, is it really as bad as I remember?
I also vaguely remember writing a book report on it. I wonder if I still have it somewhere...
