Posted on 09/05/2003 9:14:35 AM PDT by marktwain
Enemies Foreign and Domestic by Matthew Bracken, Steelcutter Publishing, San Diego CA.
www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com
I recieved my copy of Enemies Foreign And Domestic on Tuesday evening this week. By Thursday morning, I had devoured the 568 pages. This book was eagerly awaited, as it belongs to that small but growing genre, the distopic future brought about by civil war over the Constitution of the United States, triggered by ruthless suppression of the 2nd amendment.
Only three books of this genre have recieved prominence. They are: The Turner Diaries, a racist, hate filled account where the "heros" are willing to kill off 75% of the people on earth in order to gain political power; Unintended Consequences, a well written, racy, techno-thriller in the Tom Clancy style that I heartily recommend; and Enemies Foreign and Domestic, or EFAD, as I will refer to it in the rest of this review.
EFAD refers to part of the oath that all U.S. government officials and military personel take upon the assumption of their duties to defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. A basic premise of the book is that there still are men and women who actually have honor and integrity, who beleive these words when they speak them, and who actively work to follow their oath. Members of freerepublic will recognize themselves in this work.
EFAD is very well written, well plotted, and has good character development. I felt as if I could name friends and enemies who could have been the characters in the book. This book grabs you. The major premises are easily believable. Matthew Bracken knows his subject, and he uses credible human faults and errors to keep the plot plausible. A major strength is that there are no supermen or superwomen in this book. Matthew teaches us subtly by the things that are not mentioned. An astute reader will realize early on that we are at a crucial cross roads. We can move backward, keep the Assault Weapons ban, enlarge it, outlaw private sales of weapons via the "gun show loophole" and continue the march toward the chilling distopia that the author so clearly sees. Or we can move forward, sunset the Assault Weapon ban in September of 2004, and continue to move forward to a renewed era of Constitutional freedom in America.
Read this book. Pass it on to friends. Distribute it at gun shows. Buy lots of copies. I will.
Guess I'll have to sweep out the old refrigerator box!!!
Hope your days are easier..........Stay SAFE !
Can't have that, you know.
IMHO, Matt has gone a phenominal job, and in a very natural way in the story, to show that there are good people working within the system as well as the bad.
The rogue players are the really bad guys in this novel (and they exist in real life)...the true enemies. But they are abetted by politicians and administrative types who are seeking to turn the event towards their own good instead of towards the good of the people they are sworn to serve...thus they too become domestic enemies.
In addition, there's the "go along to get along" crowd, who also end up being pawns of the rogues.
The book is so good at showing how the dangerous trends could be manipulated by those seeking to play both ends off against each other for their own benefit that it should be sobering to anyone.
In the end...all tyrants do the types of things Matt potrays in his novel.
EFAD gives us a clear message that... 1) There are those who will take advantage of the current trends, the pols and the apathetic...and 2) There are still those in our nation willing to fight to retain their liberty at all costs, in the face of all of the others.
GREAT JOB MATT!
I've got mine and am showing it to as many people as I can...who are going to buy it, read it and then do the same.
But it has an ISBN number (0-9728310-0-2) and it can be ordered into B&N or anywhere else on special order.
There was plenty of action, and the characters were all very believable, as they represented a realistic cross-section of the RKBA community.
It portrays what would likely be the response to any treason against the Constitution that is committed by tyrant-wannabees. Instead of large scale 'milita groups' taking action, it would most likely be individuals or small groups of individuals. "Friends helping friends" as one of the characters said.
The ending took a couple of interesting twists, but still turned out pretty well.
All in all, it was fun to read and one of the few books I've had a hard time putting down. Thanks for writing it, and for your support of the Constitution.
Speaking of "SHTF", we may have our own little situation here in Florida if Isabel hits us late next week.
I'll be ready after a trip to Home Depot and the grocery store tomorrow, but most folks here are pretty unprepared. People think they'll just be able to go the store and buy food and water if it hits and we lose power for a week! LOL.
Although, I do wish I had a light on my rifle and pistol, especially after seeing their importance while reading your book.
It's a dangling worry for the more observant readers. IF the book had continued on, they probably would have nabbed Ian Kelby that way. One more thing for you the reader to stew about, adding those constricting bands around your chest, one at a time.
I had a lot more chapters for those guys, but 568 pages was long enough! I was even going to have Kelby pick up some cigarettes and candy wrappers and a soda can from a trash can just after some cops left a lunch parking spot, to leave false evidence which would lead the FBI to the DC police as suspects, but I thought nah, too complicated. And the "false evidence" theme gets well played with all the 10mm brass being left later, so I didn't want to overdo it.
I liked when Kelby's friend said, "Dude, you got scope eye!" and Kelby responds, "Is it bad? I've got court tomorrow."
Sniping Senators in the PM, officer of the court in the AM. For some reason, that tickles me.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.