Author info: Anderson is an educator and father of five children. He has a Bachelor's degree in business and a Master's in Social Science with an Emphasis in Public Administration. He resides in Millville, Utah.
Review:
I really can't believe that a)this is Anderson's DEBUT novel and that b) he is not a History/Political/Economics professor! He has SUCH a great grasp of the Constitution and the political and economic consequences of deviating from it, as it was intended by our founding forefathers! AND he put it all into a page turner- I finished it as 3am, I was SO glued to seeing how it ended! I really think that EVERYONE should read this book. Primarily for the discussion on what happens when economic freedom is taken away:"Political freedom means I can pick who governs me. Economic freedom means I;m free to make choices, so long as they don't infringe on the rights of others. I can freely buy and sell, produce and exchange, own and trade, choose where I love and where I go. I can enjoy the fruit of MY labors and am responsible to bear the burden of MY poor choices....I have the right to private property as an unalienable right."
In this book, the Thread Society has manouevered changes one at a time, so they seem innocent, but taken together are the foundation to override economic freedom: universal health-care system, major price controls, the biggest massive growth of entitlement programs (ie welfare) since the Great Depression, setting higher and higher minimum wages driving small businesses under, increased regulation and licensing limiting competition, price controls, raised interest rates to control recession, and demoralizing free trade via use of protectionism of American jobs.
Ok, now you KNOW that I keep politics OFF this blog. But if any of you reading this didn't just go WHOA when reading the previous paragraph, I'd be shocked. It should sound familiar- the book is based on things that HAVE occurred in our country. Now the 'Thread" part is made up, but the political and economic CONCEPTS are accurate. I am not saying the programs listed above are wrong, but I have seen how the changes have caused ripple effects in our town, and the lack of personal responsibility is a HUGE problem that leads to bigger and worse problems. My parents taught me that if you do not understand the hows and whys of the Constitution, then you should not be voting. Understand and vote intelligently! And no, I am not saying you have to vote one way or the other, just be able to EXPLAIN logically WHY you did, rather than "I just liked the candidate".
If you do nothing else, go get the book from your local library or (preferably) get your own copy (you'll be wanting to highlight/mark pages, trust me), and read the "lectures' in the appendix. They are a epilogue to the story and are told by Dr. Harold Isaacson (a key character), as he delivers a series of lectures four months after the conclusion of the story. In these lectures, the professor teaches about the constitution and breaks down how the concepts in the paragraph above can actually be counter productive and erode our economic freedom.
As far as I am concerned this is a MUST read for all teens in High School and ALL adults! You can take the fiction out and learn everything you need to know in order to better understand how our government works!
Disclosure
/ Disclaimer: I received this book, free of charge,from Bostick Communications, and the author! No
other compensation,
monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for
this post. Nor was I told how to review it.