Empire

This is an okay book written by Orson Scott Card. At a time when political discourse is really heated between liberals and conservatives, the President and Vice President are killed in a terrorist attack, leaving the President pro tempore in charge of the country. A Progressive militia has developed and taken over several states on both coasts. Special Opts agents Malek and Coleman are brought in to stop the insurrection and encourage people to put aside their differences and reunite the country.

I enjoyed the afterword where the author describes the political climate in our country. I like how he mentions that in most countries people divide themselves by race and class, but in our country we tend to differentiate one another based on ideas. I find it unlikely that political disagreements would lead to civil war, but just the other day an activist who favors building the Cordoba House near Ground Zero was shouting at an 83-year-old man who survived the Holocaust and claiming that he doesn’t understand freedom or oppression.

The leader of the Progressive militia in the novel has been compared to financier George Soros. Producer Joel Silver is planning to make a film version of the story. The sequel book is called Hidden Empire.