Single Acts of Tyranny By Stuart Fairney

Single acts of tyranny is set in the current day but pre supposes the South won the American civil war in 1863 and there are now two Americas Northern and Confederate Its major theme looks at how the politicians rule us and how a large high taxing high regulating government will impoverish weaken and ultimately make its people into docile chattels of the ruling elite Government we are told serves the people in fact dominates them as totally as any Roman emperor The book s heroine is a black woman called Halle du Bois She is a successful Southern banker of mixed race aged 32 In this book the Confederacy didn t abolish slavery until 1934 so black women can still face issues of racism in differing forms in the two countries She is asked to negotiate a political treaty with the North The villain of the piece is John Legree a Boston Brahmin in his fifties He is very much old money and is a political fixer come spin doctor think of some of the Nu Labour figures of the recent past An influential figure in the Northern government he is morally flawed and degenerates throughout the book He interacts with Halle during the trade treaty early in the book They dislike each other and represent the extremes of each system that is explored The third major character is James Emerson a freelance journalist He is an intelligent and confident individual but something of an outsider as he will not play ball with the Northern government s media domination despite living there He and Halle develop a relationship The principal thrust of the book looks at styles and themes of government and how this affects education health and welfare but it also explores issues of race as heroine is black the challenges women face in commerce through a strong female lead character female strength and sexuality parental relationships and control of the media The Northern government as will become clear is in fact a metaphor for the current British governing and media elite indeed the examples quoted are verifiable facts from the modern British state The Southern administration is the proposed antidote to it The book is an indictment of the prevailing government structure regardless of which party happens to be in power The title comes from a quote from Thomas Jefferson when he said Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day but a series of oppressions begun at a distinguished period and pursued unalterably through every change of ministers too plainly prove a deliberate systematic plan of reducing a people to slavery This strikes me as apt and the book will I hope change the way you think Single Acts of TyrannyA pocket sized version of Atlas Shrugged that I really should give only two stars to but I ll give it three cos it s heart s in the right place Single Acts of Tyranny