Agenda 21 Author: | Language: English | ISBN:
B00A2ZJBF8 | Format: PDF
Agenda 21 Description
Just a generation ago this place was called America. Now, after the worldwide implementation of UN-lead program called Agenda 21, it's simply known as the 'Republic'. There is no president. No congress. No Supreme Court. No freedom.
There are only the Authorities.
Citizens have two primary goals in the new Republic: to create clean energy and to create new human life.
Those who cannot do either are of no use to society.
This bleak and barren existence is all that 18-year-old Emmeline has ever known. She dutifully walks her energy board daily and accepts all male pairings assigned to her by the Authorities. Like most citizens, she keeps her head down and her eyes closed.
Until the day they came for her mother.
Woken up to the harsh reality of her life and her family's future inside the Republic, Emmeline begins to search for the truth. Why are all citizens confined to ubiquitous concrete living spaces? Why are Compounds guarded by Gatekeepers who track all movements? Why are food, water and energy rationed so strictly? And, most important, why are babies taken from their mothers at birth?
As Emmeline begins to understand the true objectives of Agenda 21, she realizes that she is up against far more than she ever thought. With the Authorities closing in, and nowhere to run, Emmeline embarks on an audacious plan to save her family and expose the Republic - but is she already too late?
- Audible Audio Edition
- Listening Length: 8 hours and 35 minutes
- Program Type: Audiobook
- Version: Unabridged
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Audible.com Release Date: November 20, 2012
- Whispersync for Voice: Ready
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00A2ZJBF8
I really am a fan of Glenn Beck, and I've read most of his books and listen to him every day. I guess I might have had really high expectations to this book that have fallen somewhat short. To my mind, this is really little more than a good "short story". It's a quick read, with very short chapters. It's also a very simple storyline. It's not a bad book at all, and I take it for what it is, a theoretically possible future outcome of some of the policies we see our government enacting day by day.
SPOILERS BELOW...
This book follows the personal journey of Emmeline, who spends her whole life in a communal society, performing mindless tasks for the regime she lives under. Set in a dystopian future, it is pretty much told from the first-person perspective, which I found intriguing. Maybe that's what threw me off on it, as I was expecting a lot more exposition of the story than given. There is very little character development, and this is to be expected from a 1st person perspective. Everything in the story is from the eyes of Emmeline, who doesn't have much in the way of providing a grand 3rd person perspective on the whole outline of what's happening to her and her baby. They (the government) take her baby from her (for the greater good of society), and she goes through the process of maturation to a point where this matters to her. In retrospect, this is the most compelling part of the story. She enlists the aid of others, who are (mostly) all aloof to the happenings around them as she is.
END SPOILERS
I said that I felt like this was a short story somehow stretched out to be a novel. I think this is a fair critique of the book. I was immediately reminded of Urusla LeGuin's short story "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" when I finished the book.
The biggest downfall this novel will face is Glenn Beck's name splashed across the top. To those looking for a good, fast-paced read who do take issue with that (despite the fact that it's really Ms. Parke who wrote it), I would advise getting it from your local public library. They probably even have an eBook copy that would allow you to hide from everyone else what you're reading.
Fans of other dystopian novels will be especially remiss to skip over this foray into a world where the government expects everyone to produce energy and babies while consuming as little as possible. Emmeline is a teenager who is one of the last "home-raised" citizens of the Republic. She is one of the last to hear stories of the way things were prior to citizens being relocated into uniform, high-density housing. But she has also been forced into becoming a mother. A mother who has had her baby taken from her because the state believes children are best raised by the government.
Overall, I thought it was a good effort. There are a few rough spots that could have used some more editing, especially toward the end. The ending is typical of the genre, dim but ultimately hopeful. I also had a few issues with the set up of society (namely the fact that there's no way there wouldn't have been audio and video monitoring of people inside their homes). There were a few questions raised that the reader can guess the answer, but because Emmeline never figures it out, there are no definitive answers; however, none of these are major issues.
It is presented as the fiction that it is. It is also presented as a very worst-case extreme of the future. However, it is also grounded in a real UN initiative that is being pushed in various pieces of legislation, from the local to the federal level.
Agenda 21 Preview
Link
Please Wait...