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Illustrated portrait of General Emmanuel Coon

A character in It Can't Happen Here

General Emmanuel Coon

Coon is a senior military officer under Haik who eventually defects with substantial forces.

The book

Cover of It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis
It Can't Happen HereSinclair Lewis, 1935

An American dictatorship arrives through elections, promises, resentment, and a leader who insists only he can fix the country.

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Who they are in the book

Spoiler-free

Coon is a senior military officer under Haik who eventually defects with substantial forces. His revolt gives the opposition an army and changes scattered resistance into civil war. He remains active at the end; victory has not yet been achieved.

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