The Norman Spinrad Option

So, during the recent M. A. R. Barker dust-up I've been surprised that only one or two people have tried to evoke the Norman Spinrad option --that is, that it's all some kind of hoax Barker pulled off. Have to say, I'm not buying it.

Spinrad's book, for those without access to a fifty-year-old paperback,* is an alternate history in which Adolf Hitler gives up politics to follow a career as an artist. He immigrates to America in the 1920s where he becomes a fan favorite for his work on pulp magazines. When he dies in 1953 he leaves behind a science fiction novel that embraces the white supremacy tropes endemic in American science fiction at the time. Spinrad's book provides the frame, with the bulk of the book being Hitler's novel.

The point of Spinrad's book is to make the case that there wasn't much distance between the racism acceptable in the pulps and that accepted in the real world at the time.  It's a valid point but an uncomfortable read, and I'm not sure Spinrad cd have gotten away with it today.

--John R.

*caveat: it's been a long time since I read this one, and some of the details given above may be slightly off.