Part I<p>> After completing a rereading, I am interested to see the show.<p>Isn't it possible the show is different from the book? With updates that resemble the last 5 years? How can this author purport to not find resemeblances when they haven't even watched the show, only re-read the book. I thank her for the comparison with the book, but I don't think it's what all those people calling Handmaid's Tale are referring to.<p>Not that I don't wish the writer was correct- it's just that it's highly likely people are comparing the show with today's society and not the book.<p>Having read the book, some of the most vivid scenes to me were the hermetic, sterile sex and hyperpatriarchy. Perhaps those are the <i>elements</i> modern people are comparing to modern day? Again, even though I dislike Atwood's material (I agree with McArdle here, it's a way too concentrated and cherry-picked collage of dystopian elements) and don't believe the patriarchy is as deeply embedded as my facebook friends, I can absolutely see why people would say elements from the story relate to today.<p>McArdle however seems to be comparing the totality of the story to today and saying, "no, not 100% of it is true."<p>Part II (all sources from Wikipedia)<p>On the historical elements, McArdle writes:
> a careful student of history would note that a decade after the Reichstag fire, most of German society still looked pretty much like it had in 1925.<p>So is she saying Germany of 1943 resembled Germany of 1925? She writes:
> they didn’t gut-renovate the economy, wipe out all religions that competed with the state, and completely reorganize society in the space of a few years;<p><pre><code> 27 February 1933: Reichstag Fire
9–10 November 1938: Kristallnacht
May 1940 Auschwitz I was first constructed to hold Polish political prisoners, who began to arrive in May 1940
From early 1942 until late 1944, transport trains delivered Jews to the camp's gas chambers from all over German-occupied Europe
</code></pre>
I find it hard to swallow that Germany of 1925 resembles Germany of 1943, when the persecution of Jews, blacks, homosexuals and gypsies was in full swing. Yes and there was a World War going on. Yes, not <i>all</i> religions were wiped out, but how could Germany of 1943 possibly resemble 1925? Is she focusing on the idea that the "culture" was similar and people still got married and had kids? Amdist the war, the Final Solution and even a major eugenics program including sterilization and euthansia, life was normal?<p>I find McArdle playing a contrarian, even hipster role here, denying resemblances between the story and modern reality. Not that I am pushing hard for the resemblances, but with my superficial research and recall of history and the story, I'm finding major problems with this review.