A Gandhian revolution
January 19, 2024
I’ve finished the third-and-final draft of my novel of Gandhian revolution, and readers of this Substack get the first opportunity to enjoy it.
The novel (free download links)
Looking Backward from the Tricentennial is a pastiche of Edward Bellamy’s First Gilded Age classic, Looking Backward: 2000-1887. Instead of a wealthy White man waking up in the future, Julian West is now a formerly incarcerated Black man. In the year 2076, he meets old friends and makes new ones, who explain how America’s social, cultural, electoral, legislative, economic, and judicial systems were reformed in our present day.
Gandhi never read the original, but perused the sequel, Equality, while he was in Yeravda Prison. Martin Luther King did; Coretta Scott gave him a copy while they were dating. His analysis is one of only two love letters she’s made public; after a half-dozen paragraphs, he concludes: “[T]hank you a million times for introducing me to such a stimulating book you are sweet and thoughtful indeed.”
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The problems of racial injustice and economic injustice can not be solved without a radical redistribution of political and economic power. –Martin Luther King Jr.
When he is shot at a rally demanding reparations for slavery, Julian West believes his life is over. To his surprise, he opens his eyes in 2076 and learns the nation has been reborn like a phoenix. Idabee Leete, daughter of the doctor who revived him, serves as his guide to the American Union—citizens wielding the lessons of Dr. King and using game theory to control Washington and ensure economic security for all.
But Julian soon discovers that the cyclical forces of history which allowed a nonviolent revolution to take place in the 2020s are the same forces that could have torn it in two. What sacrifices is he willing to make in order to bring about the best possible future for the United States?
A modern retelling of Edward Bellamy's 19th-century classic, Looking Backward from the Tricentennial offers a new look at America's past, present, and future. The political innovations laid out within its chapters culminate with an opportunity for radical peacemakers to influence the upcoming election.
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The links below offer (via Dropbox) three ways to download the final draft of Looking Backward from the Tricentennial. It will be available for sale on February 29; a print-on-demand copy (link) is $20.76, and the ebook is $2.99. (If you read it, I would really appreciate an Amazon review when it's live—the algorithm gods demand their tribute.)
ebook (This is a .epub file.)
PDF (The .pdf file is a standard 8.5x11 page--great for using a text-to-audio app.)
trade PDF (This is the proof of the 6x9 trade paperback.)
WARNING: Dropbox will almost certainly prompt you to sign in or sign up for their service when you click on these links. IT IS NOT REQUIRED: just make the popup go away and proceed. The chapters of the novel can also be read online on Wattpad.
[There are spoilers approaching…]
Crowdsourcing the revolution
The novel lays out a roadmap for nonviolent revolution in the ballot box, using the framework I’ve been developing for the last few years. Julian West’s story elaborates on the principles of nonviolence; the historical precedents for the political innovations; and details of the specific reforms, including monetary reform—the “radical redistribution of … economic power” that MLK spoke of.
[This is how the timely tale of nonviolent revolution ends…]
Julian West gets to bring the American Union model back to the present day, offering the United States a new way of approaching politics and an alternative to a horrifically bitter rematch between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. The Trump-Biden Peace Plan offers both men a way to cooperate, so they can both retire with dignity after ushering in a new age of peace, justice, and prosperity. Looking Backward from the Tricentennial details exactly how to use game theory and the principles of nonviolence to deliver all of these reforms in 2024.
The United States is ripe for a Gandhian revolution—let’s be the change we want to see in the world!