The next US Presidential elections are happening in November 2020. The candidates, current president Donald Trump and former vice-president Joseph Biden, are getting a lot of attention globally. These elections are going to be intense! The competition is stiff, and many believe that the choice will decide the future of the US for many years to come. Author Scott Brody gave his interpretation of what our political future might look like in his political thriller The Org: a page-turner that grabs the reader and doesn’t let go.
He grew up in a political home in New York, where the older generations met, debated the merits of candidates, and argued about politics. In the ’60s, a teenage Scott Brody joined in the political and cultural ferment of the time. He marched against the war in Vietnam, listened to Jean Shepherd on WOR and WBAI until the late hours, and read Ray Bradbury and Ramparts. In the summer he graduated from high school, he went to Woodstock.
Later, during his university days, Scott Brody spent a few years in a political group similar to the one fictionally depicted in his book. In 1976, after graduating from college, he ran for Congress in the US Labor Party.
As a result, his own experiences were used as a prototype while creating The Org, which follows the chaos after a member of an up-and-coming political party, Marianne Wolfe, gets killed in a New York apartment. It sets off a chain of events that could put Lee Beloit, its leader, in the White House. Wolfe’s death attracts attention to the tiny cultish EcoPartyUSA, which is dedicated to fighting the worsening global climate crisis; in this world, it’s causing food shortages, deteriorating weather conditions, and growing panic. More people start listening to Beloit’s charismatic and powerful message, and suddenly their polling numbers and membership are surging.
Seeing this, President Leo Pine sends his people to battle Beloit’s supporters on the streets. Beloit fights back, pushing his people to their breaking point, and decides it’s time to declare he’s running for President as a Democrat. In the meantime, Marianne’s ex-boyfriend James Roth and journalist Walt Jones are searching for her killers, and what they find could send Beloit’s campaign crashing down. Realizing this, Beloit’s top lieutenant, Juan Garcia, decides it’s time for him to act and initiates a plan to silence any threats to the Beloit campaign once and for all.
In the political climate this Independence Day is celebrated in, isn’t The Org, a perfect way to reflect on current affairs? It will make you think about the impact your vote has on your country, and remind you how tricky the politics can be.
To learn more about the author and what impact you can have on climate change, listen to Scott Brody’s podcast on the Books That Make You Show today.
