The Iron Dream

Author: Norman Spinrad

I thought I was all out of Hitler jokes, until The Iron Dream came along, and offered up an alternate history Hitler who, instead of being the Fuhrer as we know it, actually wrote smutty, fascist science-fiction. Imagine what the movie versions of those would have looked like. Landing strip jokes aside, this alternate history World War 2 novel is a fierce deconstruction of the darker elements of hard science-fiction, and forces us to look at whether familiar tropes are actually fascist. Set in 1972, the novel is a story within a story. The alternate history Adolf Hitler (who emigrated from Germany to America in 1919 after the Great War and dabbling in politics) is a successful writer, churning out sexy, science fiction adventures. Adolf writes a pulp, post-apocalypse sci-fi novel called Lord of the Swastika - a pro fascist narrative - and dies from a brain hemorrhage shortly after. The novel wins the alternate history Hugo Award. Academics tell us that Spinrad was illustrating how Joseph Campbell's Hero With a Thousand Faces, and much science fiction have similarities with Nazi Germany. Back to reality, and The Iron Dream was nominated for a Nebula Award and a Prix Tour-Apollo Award. In an ironic move, the Bundesprufstelle fur jugendgefahrdende Medien (and try saying that when you're drunk), the Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons, banned the book for its alleged promotion of Nazism. The American Nazi Party put the novel on its recommended reading list. Thankfully, most readers get the satirical point of the story!