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Freedom Book of the Month for August, 2001:
Hope
by Aaron Zelman and L. Neil Smith, Mazel Freedom Press 2001, paperback, 430 pp., $14.95
Note: This month's book review was guest-written by Sunni Maravillosa, due to Freedom Book of the Month Editor Tom Knapp's connection with a political campaign to draft Hope co-author L. Neil Smith as a presidential candidate. Tom will return to this spot next month.)
"How would you feel if you no longer feared your government?" is the question on the cover of Hope, the second novel by Aaron Zelman and L. Neil Smith. It’s a provocative question, one every individual should contemplate. The question isn’t directly answered by any characters as the action unfolds. Instead, the reader is drawn into the story, and his or her reactions to the developments of the novel provide an implicit response.
Hope is not exactly a sequel to Zelman and Smith’s first collaborative effort, The Mitzvah (Freedom Book of the Month for July, 1999), although several characters from that novel reappear. One needn’t be familiar with them or that story, however, to follow this one. Alexander Hope is an industrialist and historian who, through a series of events that are somewhat contrived, becomes the libertarian candidate for President. Less contrived are the events -- among them voter apathy and bad judgment among the Beltway elite -- that lead to Hope winning the election. He proceeds to live up to his one campaign promise, that being enforcing the Bill of Rights as the highest law of the land. How he accomplishes this, and the responses of the people -- from the Secret Service who have to protect a President who goes about armed and refuses to let them disarm audiences, to the Congresscritters who are hamstrung by his executive orders and vetoes of their business-as-usual legislation, to private citizens of varying political stripes -- is the bulk of the story.
And an interesting story it is. While light on the political sparring that one would expect to happen if a libertarian President were to take office in a near-future DC populated by the likes of Schumer, Feinstein, et al, Hope is not a "and they all lived happily ever after" story either. Alex Hope has real challenges to deal with, including convincing the people that his vision is a better one than that of "Socialist Party ‘A’ or ‘B’", and several assassination attempts. Although having the main character occupying the White House gives Zelman and Smith plenty of room for lengthy speeches and soliloquies spelling out libertarian philosophy and policy, their touch is deft. Sure, there’s some speechifying, but nothing near what some pro-freedom authors have done, and it’s all quite credible.
Zelman and Smith’s less confrontational (than in The Mitzvah) presentation of libertarian ideas results in a novel that will serve as effective outreach to nonlibertarians, particularly Constitutionalists, patriots, and conservatives. Reading Alex Hope’s party nomination acceptance speech (pp. 112-122), in which he sets the stage for his Bill of Rights enforcement agenda, will be inspiring for libertarians and likely an eye-opener for nonlibertarians. The messages of the benefits of freedom, and how to get there from here, are consistently yet not overpoweringly presented; the messenger, in the form of Alex Hope -- a man with a fundamentally positive sense of life and a practical way of handling challenges -- is an engaging, realistic portrayal of a Randian hero that many readers can relate to on some level. The chapter lead-ins -- "quotations" culled from a book Alexander Hope authored -- are also savory freedom nuggets (many of which Neil Smith fans will doubtless recognize).
I highly recommend sharing Hope with others. Libertarian or not, that question on the front cover should impel them to open the book, and explore how to peaceably take back our lost freedoms.
Sunni Maravillosa is the publisher of Doing Freedom!, a ‘zine devoted to helping individuals create more freedom in their lives.
Order Hope from Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership ($14.95; bulk discounts available).
Visit JPFO's home page for more information on victim disarmament and its connection with police states and genocide.
Visit L. Neil Smith's Webley Page.
Other Freedom Books of the Month from Aaron Zelman and/or L. Neil Smith:
edited by Thomas L. Knapp
June 2001: Tethered Citizens by Sheldon Richman
May 2001: Lever Action by L. Neil Smith
April 2001: The Cato Handbook for Congressfrom the Cato Institute
March 2001: The Contested Legacy of Ayn Rand by David Kelley
February 2001: Crypto by Steven Levy
January 2001: Total Freedom by Chris Matthew Sciabarra
Freedom Book of the Year 2000: Forge of the Elders by L. Neil Smith
December 2000: The Mystery of Capital by Hernando de Soto
November 2000: Escape from Leviathan by J.C. Lester
October 2000: The Art of Political War by David Horowitz
September 2000: An Enemy of the State by Justin Raimondo
August 2000: The Triumph of Liberty by Jim Powell
July 2000: A Generation Divided by Rebecca Klatch
June 2000: Law's Order by David Friedman
May 2000: Forge of the Elders by L. Neil Smith
April 2000: Reciprocia by Richard G. Rieben
March 2000: The Art of Fiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers by Ayn Rand
February 2000: Addiction is a Choice by Jeffrey A. Schaler
January 2000: Revolutionary Language by David C. Calderwood
Special December 1999 Feature: The Freedom Book of the Year: Send in the Waco Killers: Essays on the Freedom Movement, 1993-1998 by Vin Suprynowicz
November 1999: Conquests and Cultures by Thomas Sowell
October 1999: A Way To Be Free by Robert LeFevre, edited by Wendy McElroy
September 1999: Assassins (Left Behind) by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
August 1999: Don't Shoot the Bastards (Yet): 101 More Ways to Salvage Freedom by Claire Wolfe
July 1999: The Mitzvah by L. Neil Smith and Aaron Zelman
June 1999: The Incredible Bread Machine by R.W. Grant
May 1999: Send in the Waco Killers by Vin Suprynowicz
April 1999: It Still Begins with Ayn Rand by Jerome Tuccille
March 1999: The Dictionary of Free-Market Economics by Fred Foldvary
February 1999: Feminist Interpretations of Ayn Rand edited by Mimi Reisel Gladstein and Chris Matthew Sciabarra
In December 2004 this page was modified significantly from its original form for archiving purposes.
, founded in 1995, is now a part of ISIL.
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