The American Testament - Book Review

Thomas Michael Simon has written a fictional novel entitled 'The American Testament.'  The story is set in the year 2084.  It is a time when artificial intelligence is used everywhere, androids abound, and America finds itself terribly fragmented. Simon paints a dark vision of a highly technological society of the future. It is a prophetic narrative about a dystopian America that has been basically divided into three distinct districts after a national debt-driven collapse of the financial system with each area inhabited by citizens who primarily follow only one political persuasion.  The country described in Simon’s book is George Orwell's '1984’ a hundred years later. Big brother is everywhere. Your every word is monitored, and your location is constantly tracked and available to some government entity.

It is also a book that reflects on much of the direction our current day in history is following and illuminates how history can and does repeat itself.  Simon prefaces his novel with a little background of each of the main characters in his foreword. This and his section called “To the Reader” helps sets the stage for the futuristic novel of a  United States in the throes of a second Civil War as political overseers vie for a separation based on political-ideological beliefs. The book is a wake-me-up for those who don’t follow the political wranglings that constantly goes on in today’s house and senate.

Simon creates a future where powerful leaders and political groups with divergent ideas seem to be still only capable of resolving issues with the blood of those who think differently. Massive terrorist attacks happen in the Southern district, killing hundreds of civilians. The perpetrators are not known at first. The civil unrest turns even more deadly as factions using android soldiers to do much of the destruction - stage war in America.

Androids are a significant part of life in 2084. Simon even talks of brothels of androids. The manufacturers of androids have created deadly fighting machines that are armed with lasers, flame throwers, machine guns, and other weapons of destruction. They come configured in numerous ways. The android types have names like Scorpions, Eagles, Lobos, Hornets, etc.

The American Testament is an enthralling and terrifying narrative that is a warning to be heeded as we rush into tomorrow. It is a thought-provoking piece of literature that is urgently relevant today as we live in the shadows of a broken Congress and in a divided society.   Simon shows a keen observation of human nature and civilization in his writing.  He writes of a new war between the states, a war that pits the North against the South and other factions tossing their militias and armies into the fray, creating a bloodbath that fractures an already crippled America. Can America heal itself, or will it just disintegrate into a shadow of its previous self?  They say, "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it."  Are we learning?