Courses – Spring 2025 / Old Courses / IT CAN’T HAPPEN HERE, CAN IT?

Coordinators: Lynnel Garabedian, Sandy Kessler

In our class this fall we will read and discuss It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis and The Plot Against America by Philip Roth.

These two dystopian novels examine the fragility of American democracy and the prospects for the rise of dictatorship in the years preceding World War II.

Our class discussions will focus on the literary merit of these works, the similarities and differences between them, and the light they each shed on our current political situation.

B WEEK / TUESDAY / 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM

Other Classes:

• THE TWILIGHT ZONE
• HEALTH AND MEDICINE
• FLAWED GREATNESS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON
• PORTRAIT OF A LADY
• STAR-CROSSED LOVERS
• ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: A BRAVE NEW WORLD?
• WOMEN SPIES
• DAISY MILLER & WASHINGTON SQUARE
• BEETHOVEN: THE MIDDLE YEARS
• ALL THE KINGS MEN
• JAZZ AT NOON
• WORLD OF THEATRE
• THE SCARLET LETTER
• THE GREAT GATSBY
• TOCQUEVILLE'S DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA
• MEXICO: SOUTH OF OUR BORDER
• HISTORY OF MEDICINE
• HARLEM RENAISSANCE
• CONSTRUCTION: BEYOND BRICKS AND MORTAR
• ACTING WORKSHOP I
• THEATER TALKBACK
• BOOK CHATS
• ADVENTURES IN DINING
• FOOD: BEYOND JUST CALORIES
• TONI MORRISON: THE LEGEND
• INVISIBLE MAN BY RALPH ELLISON
• SIXTIES
• ELIZABETH GASKELL
• WEEK IN PARIS
• CLASSICAL MUSIC
• CREATIVE WORKSHOP
• MUSIC OF THE HEART
• EMILY DICKINSON CIRCLE
• SYMPOSIUM
• RUSSIAN GEOGRAPHY
• WATER
• FOLK MUSIC AND MELLOW ROCK
• CONTEMPORARY BRITISH CULTURE
• AUSTRALIA – THE LAND DOWN UNDER
• HUCKLEBERRY FINN
• AGING
• FASCINATING ISLANDS
• BLACK WOMENS VOICES
• THE NOBEL PRIZES
• READING EDITH WHARTON
• WOMEN IN GREEK DRAMA
• THE NEAR EAST
• HISTORY OF GERMANY
• A PASSAGE TO INDIA
• INDIE FILMS
• SLAVERY'S ROLE IN U.S. CAPITALISTIST DEVELOPMENT
• RISE AND FALL OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE
• READING THE RABBIS
• RACE RELATIONS IN AMERICAN POLITICAL THOUGHT
• MYTHOLOGY
• LITERARY HEROINES
• HOWARDS END
• HOUSE OF MIRTH
• FABULOUS FIFTIES
• COMEDY CENTRAL
• READING BLACK LIVES
• BORDERS AND BOUNDARIES
• MOZARTS WOMEN
• ANTISEMITISM: PAST, PRESENT, FACTS, MYTHS
• AFRICAN CONTINENT
• PRESENTERS SHOWCASE
• INVENTIONS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD
• ACTING CLASS
• FOREIGN AFFAIRS
• LAW & ORDER
• POINT OF VIEW
• MODERN OPERA
• MOVERS & SHAKERS
• SOCRATES AND THE PROBLEM OF PHILOSOPHY
• FASCINATING NONFICTION
• GREAT CONVERSATIONS
• ORAL INTERPRETATION OF POETRY
• SHAKESPEARE: CYMBELINE

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