The Army of the Republic by Stuart Archer Cohen

Book synopsis: In a revolutionary America at the edge of our imagination, two men face off in a struggle for the future. On one side is Lando, a twenty-something urban guerilla whose obsession with saving the country drives his Army of the Republic deeper into a violent campaign of bombing and assassination. On the other side is James Sands, a billionaire entrepreneur so determined to preserve his privileges that he unwittingly hires death squads to hunt down and murder his own family. Against the backdrop of mass demonstrations and corporate armies, this thrilling kaleidoscopic novel explores the deeper issues of love, family, and lethal rebellion. (Goodreads)

Army of the Republic is a lesson in left-leaning propaganda. Set in the future day after tomorrow America, featuring American Revolutionaries (terrorists) against the big bad corporations, who want to take back the US from a corrupt, war-mongering government. Its a call to change and a fight against the radical conservatives. I find it funny this was written while Bush was in office. The story, written from multiple first person viewpoints, starts with the assassination of a prominent businessman by an underground group calling itself "The Army of the Republic". It goes on to tell a tale of corporate corruption and the underground, socialist movement whose goal is to bring down the government, by revolutionary methods because voting is not seen as legitimate. Although the writer tries to justify the anti-government violence by making you connect with the terrorists, (aka- ticked off Americans who feel raped by big business)…..It didn’t work for me.

The one aspect I did like was the crafty little twist of the relationship between the radical group leader and  the filthy water corporate leader! That’s my one positive from this book, but apart from the twisty plot I didn’t like the politics or the first person narrative, which switches between characters without letting you know whose talking. The author left it up to you to figure out who it was, which made it hard for me to get involved with the story. I didn’t connect to any character and felt no involvement in the book, other than feeling that I was reviewing homework on someone’s pissed off opinion of the United States.

So, this is what I took away from Army of the Republic, corporations are evil, and they control all the news toward capitalistic and conservative ends, so that no one can do the right thing, and that makes terrorism against them justified. That’s basically saying all the media today is highly conservative and slants all the news towards a conservative viewpoint…..WHAT…has Mr. Cohen been living under a mountain in Alaska? Last time I checked ….as of this morning….the media has an extreme liberal slant, besides Fox News, which leans towards the right. That being said, for me, I didn’t enjoy this due to the political views expressed in the book. Every cliché is here from the big brother government with twisted political agendas to the underground hero's dictating value systems of us naive Americans. So who will like this book? Liberals will love it, Conservatives will hate it and Moderates could go either way.

1/5 Political Thriller

Thank you to Meryl Moss Media Relations for review copy