Amerikan Eagle

For a while there, Huey Long was my political idol. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it was his-take no-prisoners approach or his bullet-riddled, unfulfilled promise, or maybe something else. But outside of a few short stories or cameo appearances, I have not seen a long-form, alternate history devoted to a Long presidency. It is about time, although some of what transpires rings as false.

AMERIKAN EAGLE seems like a rehash of IT COULDN'T HAPPEN HERE. The president has issued all kinds of draconian policies that lead to a form of fascism. Secret police, snitches, blacklists, ghettos, etc, are the norm for this world. Long's policies do nothing to alleviate the now decade-long Depression and has managed to keep us out of the war. However, he is not above striking deals with Nazi Germany and putting dissidents in labor camps.

Our hero is a cop of course - noble, mostly honest, and trying to stay out of the dirty politics that surround him. He is investigating the suspicious murder of an unidentified man and trying to get to the truth behind the recent happenings.

The author, Alan Glenn, is apparently a pseudonym for Brendan DuBois who wrote the acclaimed RESURRECTION DAY, an alternate history of the Cuban Missile Crisis. I'm not sure why he went with the nom-de-plume, but the style and tone of this book is very similar to the RESURRECTION DAY. That is not a problem, because it is well written and enjoyable.

I'm not sure I buy Huey Long's world as portrayed here, but Glenn-DuBois does a credible job building his world.