Agenda 21 (Agenda 21, #1) by Glenn Beck

Agenda 21 (Agenda 21, #1) Reviews

• 
  Sarah Cypher

  Here's the scoop: Cover up Beck's name and read the book. He's not actually the author, anyway. The woman whose name appears as a ghostwriter conceived of and wrote the book herself.
  
  If you don’t happen to be an urban planner, here’s a crash course on the novel’s eponymous UN Agenda 21. It’s a forty-chapter behemoth written in 1993. It lays out non-binding guidelines for promoting economic growth, environmental protection, and social equality. Basically, it is a recipe for living within our means today, so that we do not pass along to our children a degraded economy, environment, and society. It addresses topics as various as toxic waste, biotechnology, conservation, and green transportation, all with the goal of helping poor countries develop economies—in large part, by encouraging wealthy countries to dial back in sensible ways on their consumption of resources. Today, city and regional planners support the concepts that underpin Agenda 21, because they translate the big picture to local efforts to save people time and money as their communities adapt to change over time.
  
  Glenn Beck and fellow pundits hate Agenda 21, however, because they interpret a few lines from Chapter 4 out of context. Their scare tactic is to say it’s the narrow end of a wedge that will insert global UN authority over American towns and cities, allow the government to confiscate private land, reallocate resources by force, and evict people from their single-family homes. Never mind that the law of the land is the United States Constitution and that our relationship with the UN can hardly be described as lockstep. Moreover, the United States has no land use laws at the federal level, whatsoever. All land use decision-making authority in the United States lies with the states, who delegate authority to local governments. Relatively speaking, the United States has some of the strictest protections for private property in the world.
  
  Agenda 21 is simply a non-binding, unenforceable menu of guidelines that exists to help any town or city that signs on to it. But when removed from all sensible context and cast forward into a dystopian future, Agenda 21 becomes the novel Agenda 21, which tells the story of a post-American settlement where people are forced to ride bikes and walk on treadmills to generate electricity, told whom to marry, raised in communal kibbutz-like nurseries, and forced to swear allegiance to a scary green one-world socialist entity.
  
  I argue that if the book had been published under Ms. Parke’s name alone, it would remain an entertaining dystopian novel. The writing is capable, the story compelling, and most of its values are to be respected—family, localness, and a good education in history (Beck, and his publishing house, ought to take note of that, by the way). It would be marketed and sold to readers of speculative fiction, which are typically a brainy crowd. Maybe some among them would hold it up as a negative vision of a radical environmental agenda run amok, albeit in a world without Exxon Mobil or Wal-Mart—in fact, one without any wealthy corporations at all, who historically pitch their vast financial resources against environmental regulations.
  
  Publishing Agenda 21 under Glenn Beck’s name transforms it, at least temporarily. Glenn Beck is more than just the nice guy whose publishing house is bringing Ms. Parke’s work to a national audience. He’s also a professional ideologue whose establishment confers the full force of its intellectually and morally irresponsible franchise on a novel that distorts the truth about Agenda 21, which is doing good work in the world. Glenn Beck is not writing as an artist, bound by the conventions of his art, plying his craft on the willing human imagination. Hell, he’s not writing at all. He is a brand, with a budget, and with an agenda of his own. Ultimately, by assigning his brand to the novel Agenda 21, Beck turns a form of entertainment into a political lie, a tool for politicizing people.
  
  As a genre, speculative fiction keeps one eye on politics, but its goal is not to preach. It’s to make up an entertaining version of reality—an augmentation of social truth, which is not the truth itself. A novel’s vision can scare us, inspire us, affirm our emotions, and articulate our fears. It shouldn’t, however, serve as a primary political agenda any more than Paul Ryan should be waving Atlas Shrugged around on the House floor. In the same way, Agenda 21 is being delivered as propaganda, and by buying the right to call himself its author, Glenn Beck is diminishing a work of fiction to nothing more than a cheap appeal directed at an uncritical audience.
• 
  Sandy

  I loved this book! It reminded me of the dismal life of The Hunger Game and the story telling of The Giver. There is no color in this book, everything is dark and there lies no hope. Or, at least the hope that I know and would want where I live. People have their duties and they abide by them because that is just the way things are done. There once was America but now there lies communities run by Authorities and life continues day in and day out. Do you walk the board, or are you a Gatekeeper, do you work the bus-box or any of the other jobs that keep the community in working condition. Emmeline lives in this community and hears the stories of life before the walls went up from her mother but one day the stories stop and Emmeline wishes she would have learned more. What happened to create such an automatic society and why is this society such a good thing? When Emmeline starts to mature, her responsibilities grow but her future is more than she can take.
  
  I was hooked immediately and couldn’t put this book down. It’s one of those books you want to yell at the main character to do something different and then feel sorry for her as her “real” world is finally revealed to her. Her innocence is sometimes just too raw but then under the circumstances you have to realize she knows no different. Definitely a great read!!
  
• 
  Mike (the Paladin)

  Here I'll say a few things. First as a novel this book is readable, not badly written (whether ghost written, collaboratively written or whatever). While not great literature it's got no major flaws and won't give you instances of "double takes" trying to figure the meaning. It's interesting in it's plotting and the characters are there if not the most detailed.
  
  So a downer sort of book following in the footsteps of novels like
  1984. Not a light read but not a problematic read.
  
  The ideas in the book? Well, I will recommend you read the book. Some of you will find it eye opening, others will reject it as fear mongering. Then I suggest that you actually read Agenda 21 (the proposal not this novel). This (Agenda 21) and other proposals (now actually in the offing) will do things that most would never believe "could happen here". It's real, not fantasy.
  
  So, will the things pictured in this book happen?
  
  Probably not in the next 10 years, but what about the next 20 or the next 30? I don't know. What we have here is a take on the extreme end of where these things could lead. While I don't think we'll soon be pledging to squirrels (as the writer notes) soon, there are proposals for mass transfers of the population to "communities". The shift to "regionalism".
  
  No place the people ever gave up their rights to a state that promised to "take care of everyone and everything" thought it would happen there.
  
  The "new medical" laws now insist that religious and moral beliefs must be set aside and even if people believe abortion for birth-control is murder, it does not matter. Pharmacists "must" sell the abortion pill. Churches must pay for insurance that covers abortion in Church Run businesses such as schools and hospitals.
  
  First Amendment, Freedom of Religion, gone.
  
  In the "Patriot Act" the Right to Freedom from Unlawful Search and Seizure is removed for most forms of communication.
  
  The Forth Amendment, Freedom from warrantless search and seizure gone.
  
  
  The National Defense Act provides that American citizens can be picked up and held...INDEFINITELY...without charge and without access to an attorney or legal council if "suspected"...THAT'S SUSPECTED...of being "involved with terrorists or terrorism.
  
  The Fifth Amendment, No one may be deprived of life or liberty without due process...gone.
  
  We now have multiple laws that will gut the second amendment pending. Where will it stop? Will it stop?
  
  Will they take up people's books as is noted in this novel? No, never everyone says. Some of the laws now being looked at will have the government confiscating guns, ammunition, magazines etc...as has already been done in the UK. All hand guns were confiscated by the government there (and by the way gun violence went up not down).
  
  I'm not asking you to believe me...I'm asking you to look for yourself. It will be far harder to get lost rights back than to stop the power grab.
  
  
  Update: Since I first reviewed this book things have moved even further along the road to totalitarianism...but you know, "it couldn't happen here".
• 
  Dan

  I can't give a lower rating to this book. I spent about an hour reading it at Barnes & Noble because I didn't want to pay for it, and thought "why the heck not?" I'm a huge fan of dystopian fantasy. But wow, this book could not have been worse.
  
  The plot plays out in a "Hunger Games" style future in which the United States has been taken over by a dictatorial regime of eco-fascists. When the main character is forced to mate, and subsequently give up her daughter to the regime, she begins to learn about how her world came to be, and secular, freedom hating, jackbooted thugs began to destroy the benevolent free market. And of course, then embarks on a mission to fall in love with a boy, and escape their captors.
  
  Yes, it's propaganda in support of a paranoid conspiracy theory about urban planning and resource management, which I wouldn't mind if the story was actually compelling and believable. But unfortunately, each of the main characters are completely non-descript and lacking any sense of internal motivation. Descriptions of the environment and action are dispassionate and spare. And the antagonists are barely present, leaving the reader to presume that the characters are under threat just based on the established dystopian trope. And 40% of the book is exposition in the form of lecturing dialogue delivered by others to the main character.
  
  Fans of Glenn Beck, feel free to read this. But then do your own investigation into Agenda 21, and don't let this paranoid fantastical extrapolation guide your opinions of reality.
• 
  Frank

  I read this page-turner in one day and finished more than a quarter of the book in one sitting. Upon taking a break from reading I felt overwhelmed with gratitude for having personal freedom, something not available to the book's characters.
  
  The novel describes a post-America in which the authorities and their underlings regulate all aspects of life from birth to the grave: what and how much you may eat and drink, your occupation, your work quota, with whom you may procreate. The leaders arrest anyone who violates the rules and the offender is never seen again. There don't seem to be any elderly people and by middle age many are worn out and without hope.
  
  This is the society in which the protagonist, Emmeline grows up. She wonders how everything got to such a miserable state and longs for a way out, a way her loved ones and she can have freedom.
  
  The meticulously-planned social order is showing signs of breaking down, finally giving Emmeline her chance.
  
  The story is based on the United Nations' Agenda 21, a plan that opposes private ownership of land and exalts the environment at the expense of the individual and our constitutional republic. Sadly, some municipalities in various parts of the country are seeking the implement portions of Agenda 21.
  
  
• 
  Kristine

  Glenn Beck, we are NEVER EVER EVER getting back together. I will not read another Glenn Beck book that my mother or father in law pushes on me. This one is worse than the last one.
  
  So I'm a moderate conservative. And one thing I have no patience for is people who think the other side is all evil and your side is all good. Each side is a mixed bag, and I struggle to decide every election and end up voting R because I'm a fiscal conservative and social libertarian.
  
  So this book takes some leftist principals and pushes them to the utmost extreme. Ya know what, I could probably write a dystopian novel that takes some rightist principals and push them to such an extreme that the the book would be more of a nightmare than this darn thing. I'm not the biggest fan of the UN either but sheesh. Flattest characters, most predictable plot in the world, and no exploration of meaning. Brick, meet head.
  
  ALSO: electrical smart meters as a conspiracy theory? Shoot me. my last work project was on the cutting edge of technologies associated with smart meters. Educate yourselves, Beck-heads.
• 
  Margie

  "Agenda 21" reminded me of "1984" and "The Hunger Games" and a couple of other lesser known novels I've read in which a all-too-powerful centralized government controls the healthy people and kills the weak. When will people ever learn that a powerful centralized government spells disaster for individual rights? And although George and Julia of "1984" succumbed to the power of Big Brother, "Agenda 21" is more hopeful because some people, like David and Emmeline in this novel, still have enough memory of "how things were" or heard their parents talk about "how things were" to start asking questions themselves and realizing that things could and should be better. With regard to the real Agenda 21, our own Hilary Clinton and Barrack Obama are proponents of the insidious right-stripping proposal, and right now the only thing protecting the United States from it's too far-reaching grip is the Congress, many (but not yet a majority) of whom, unfortunately, are also proponents. I'm saddened to learn about the many cities that are adopting language from this proposal on their own, especially in being duped into thinking they are helping the earth. They are just making the path to the loss of sovereignty as a nation easier, as other greedy and jealous nations try to take what we have developed for themselves and undermine our Constitution.
• 
  Eric

  The majority of reviews I've seen for this book fall in one of the following categories: "I hate Glenn Beck", "Glenn Beck stole this book from the author" or "The ideas in this book could never happen". I don't care about any of that as this is a BOOK review and I thought it was one of the best books I've read this year.
  
  This was a fast paced easy read and that would probably be my only mark down on this book as I wanted more of it when I got to the end. I'm holding out hope that Harriet Parke follows this up with another to continue the story. While this does deal with the extremes of actual documented ideas presented by the United Nations Agenda 21, I could easily see how this could come about. A few changes to laws here, a few more changes there and before you know it, all the power has been given away. And I can easily see people going along with an idea that is presented to them that they won't have to worry about making ends meet or getting ahead as long as they feel comfortable that their needs will be met and they won't have to work as hard as they currently do. I'm sure a large number would go right along with it before they realized what they'd done. As the book states, the ideas presented are at the extreme ends of what could happen, but who wants to read a book where things are only mildly messed up? How entertaining would that have been? A great novel that would make a great series that also holds the potential of educating the public on a potentially dangerous idea held within the United Nations, presented in an entertaining way. I highly recommend you read it.
• 
  Kathleen

  Agenda 21 is a quick read, but it stays with you as your mind ponders the "what if..." scenario. For those not a fan of Glenn Beck, he wrote the book with Harriet Parke and it should not be an obstacle to reading the book. There is no party or political specifics contained in the story. The book reads like a young adult book rather than contemporary fiction. That should not be a detriment either to reading Agenda 21. It reminded me of Hunger Games, also a book that delves into the question, "what happens when government gets too big and has too much power". The book takes place in a government compound. Life as we know it, ended a generation ago. "Citizens" are given a place to live, nourishment cubes to eat, responsibilities to create energy and an occupational positions. There is no money, one cannot buy anything. Everything you "need" is handed to you. The compound is gated and there is no escape. The story is centered around one family, with the major protagonist being a young girl named Emmeline. Her life as a child and as she grows what is expected of her from the "authority'. Agenda 21 is the name of the novel, but also a real U.N. initiative. Also called ICLEI (International Council of Local Environmental Initiatives)is a bottom up international initiative. There is an afterward in the book, totally separate from the story that explains what Agenda 21 is. Starting with local governments to restrict land growth and ownership, enforce sustainable development...basically everything you do to the environment must help future generations... If sounds far fetched, try installing a new toilet in the state of New Jersey, only smaller, water conserving toilets are permitted...the list goes on. The use of precautionary approach is the most frightening...guilty til proven innocent...goes against everything we beleive in. If you do not think that governments have the power to control you or that governments only want the best for its citizens, remember it has happened before...in World War II.
• 
  Natalie

  I enjoyed the book.
  I thought Harriet Parke's Agenda 21 revealed the worst imaginable outcome for the green movement. Did she hear Glenn joking about Soylent Green and write a Hunger Games meets secular Progressives meets Soylent Green? Maybe.
  
  I still enjoyed the book. Her dystopian world was clever and the remnant articles from the past really seemed to hit a nerve and I felt that was the most genuine part of the book where she hid certain things her mother had given her.
  
  There were a few areas where I could see it should have been edited more to give a more flushed out end product. I only gave it three stars because the plot arc fell flat toward the end. The tension at the end felt contrived, the protagonists motives were not carefully built enough. She had good ideas for how we might be oppressed in the future if evil people who only cared about recycling decided to oppress the United States. Her book was the last dystopian fiction I want to read for awhile, I think I am over it.
  
  Right now it seems like many people are asleep to the dangers of our politicians and legislation, but Glenn Beck who I love to listen to, usually over-promises and under-delivers and I think he did with Agenda 21. He could have said it was a good book not it was a mindblowing best book you will ever read. HIs job is to hype his stuff though so of course he over-hyped it. I think she did a great job for a first novel, I am happy for her success, and glad Glenn used his name to get the story out there, and I hope she keeps writing!
• 
  Leah

  What a crazy/intense story!
  Agenda 21 was a very interesting book. Once I started reading I wasn't able to put it down.
  Glenn Beck and Harriet Parke did a great job of writing it!
  It reminded me a little bit of the Hunger Games, but it was better.
  
  The way the people in this book were forced to live is horrible.
  Everyone had a food and water ration. One in the morning and one at night.(If they completed all their required work for the day.)
  The people lived in compounds, and they had to do everything the authorities said.
  If they disobeyed the authorities they were either beaten or taken away, never to be seen again.
  Everyone had to pledge allegiance to the Republic, the earth, and the animals.
  Children were kept in the children's village and were taught by the Republic.
  
  OK, I'll stop here, I could tell a lot more about the book but I don't want to spoil it....
  I definitely recommend this book to everyone! It is a great read! And I believe you wont be disappointed by it.
• 
  Mindy Taylor

  3.5 rounded up to 4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
  
  In the future, the authorities control everything. Everyone lives in a “planned community”. Your sexual partners are chosen for you, you are not allowed to live in families and the state raises your children. You are given minuscule food cubes to eat that authorities feel are the right amount of nutrition, you are expected to walk on a treadmill every day to create a particular energy allotment, and you are monitored and watched at all times. It is very depressing and bleak.
  
  Although over the top, it’s a good reminder of how slippery the slope can be to total totalitarianism. Agenda 21 is a real proposal from the UN and it’s chilling to read 😳
  
  I do wish the book would’ve detailed more about how society got from point A to point B, but the subtle hints it gave were enough to get the picture.
  
  Overall the writing was meh but the story was great! Super fast read too. It’s similar to, although not as good as, Hunger Games. I liked it enough that I plan to read the second book in the series
  
  
  
• 
  Rebecca Skane

  
  
  Read this book because it was penned by Harriet Parke, not Glenn Beck. Put a piece of black electrical tape over his name. His actions warrant it.
  
  It has Glenn Beck's name on it, but he didn't write it. Harriet Parke is the one who wrote this terrifying dystopia and Beck's team went in and bought the rights. While Ms. Parke wrote a great piece of fiction which was crafted from her nightmares regarding the real Agenda 21 from the UN, Beck stamped his name on it (when he didn't even write one word) to use as a political platform. His actions disgust me. To put his name above Harriet's on the cover was despicable. It was a crime against writers in general.
  
  Regarding the book - this a great piece of fiction by an aspiring new author that has been stained with Beck's own agenda. I'll focus on Harriet's story in my formal review. Full review:
  Agenda 21 Book Review
• 
  Estibaliz79

  OMG! OMG! ¡Ay, madre! ¡Ay, madre! Qué difícil que es esto...
  
  ¿Por dónde empezar? Pues tal vez por aclarar lo más importante, porque la verdad que esto crispa los nervios de cualquiera... ¿Ha escrito el tal Glenn Beck, al que tengo la suerte de no conocer, esta novela? No, aunque en todas partes se lleve el crédito, por llamarlo de alguna forma... Ahora que lo que está claro es que, si no fuera por él, seguramente este libro ni se habría escrito ni se habría publicado. Aclaración, pues: la verdadera autora de "Agenda 21" es la tal Harriet Parke, que en este caso hace de 'negro' reconocido al servicio, tal parece por el epílogo, de unos ideales... por llamarlos de alguna forma.
  
  No soy yo de entrar en discusiones políticas, pues ya se sabe que esas cosas las hay para todos los gustos, pero...
  Digamos que las dos estrellas nacen de la conjunción de dos elementos:
  - La novela en sí, una distopía más que empieza bastante mejor de lo que acaba, pues tiene un final tan abrupto que uno duda: ¿es que están pensando en segundas partes o es que al fin y al cabo esta es una historia al servicio de un propósito, y una vez mostrada las supuestas consecuencias de la controvertida Agenda 21 lo demás importa un carajo (y disculpen ustedes mi lenguaje)? Es en ese aspecto donde la nota puede situarse en torno al 2.5, siempre y cuando uno se quede en la superficie de una lectura más o menos amena (se deja leer bien) que tiene planteamientos interesantes en su concepción, especialmente si nos centramos en la típica dinámica de esta clase de historias de opresión de la Autoridad.
  - El epílogo, a cargo del famoso Beck, es la guinda del pastel que acaba de estropear la lectura, dificultando muy mucho la digestión. Me parece muy bien que todo el mundo exprese su opinión y por supuesto que hay que respetar, pero es que este hombre se dedica a demonizar términos como justicia, equidad o desarrollo sostenible, y ni tanto ni tan calvo. Esta muy bien (es un decir) defender el libre comercio y demás, pero eso de criticar la hipotética redistribución de la riqueza porque supondría (según el ínclito) quitar a los ricos Estados Unidos para dar a los tercermundistas, olvidando que muchas veces su riqueza se obtiene a costa de la explotación de esos a los que no se quieren parecer... eso, muy señor mío, es demagogia pura.
  
  En fin, que miedo me dan algunas actitudes... pero respetaremos. Claro que esto se trata de mi opinión personal, y ahí que dejamos las dos estrellas de media; que ya digo que vista la resolución de la novela en sí, tampoco es que la cosa dé para mucho más.
• 
  Terri

  Although I am not inclined to be a doomsayer nor a conspiracy theorist, I highly recommend that you read this short novel. There are many dystopian novels on the market (Divergent, The Hunger Games, The Giver, etc), but Agenda 21 is scarier and more prophetic than any I have yet read. The "unintended consequences" of feel-good notions that alike and equal mean the same thing, the worship of the Earth and its varied species of plants and animals (excluding human beings, of course) and redistribution of wealth (take from those who have and give to those who have not by coercion and force, if necessary for the "greater good")are clearly and frighteningly illustrated in this novel. As a firm believer in the US Constitution and the ideals expressed in our Declaration of Independence, I see Agenda 21 (the UN's plan s well as the outcome of it as expressed in this novel) easily becoming our world - a world in which evil is in control and the human spirit crushed to feeble embers. I do not despair, however, for I believe that folk like Emmeline and her David, Elsa, Joan, and John will set those embers afire.
• 
  J.S.A. Lowe

  I'm going to allege I read this, even though I really just read the first two chapters standing up in CVS at almost four a.m. and had to flee the store because I started laughing so hard. Partly at the blurbs extracted from this "
  review":
  

  It is a fictional account from the point of view of a fourteen-year-old girl named Emmeline living in a not-too-distant future, where the private ownership of property is forbidden and citizens are subject to an all powerful “Central Authority” that pledges its collective allegiance to the Republic and the protection of the Earth.
  
  Citizens live in tightly confined compounds with their “paired” companion, mandated to produce both healthy children and energy for the Republic. Every action is strictly monitored and recorded by the Authority. Citizens consume less than what they produce, receiving equal rations of nourishment and water each day. House, church, Bible, God, and Jesus are all words of the past, what matters now is what is, and what is, is subject to the requirements of the Republic.

  
  HAHAHAHAHAHA OMG WHUT
  
  Of course Beck didn't write this, some nice lady named Harriet Parke did that (and
  her blog is centered!), but OMG SRSLY, Glenn? Do you believe your own palaver? Because yeah, that's EXACTLY what liberals want, that's what we depraved sexual libertines are gunning for, is enforced heterosexual monogamy and reproductive slavery to an all-controlling sta—OH WAIT SORRY THAT'S YOU GUYS.
  
  Basically what we have here is one part Ayn Rand, one part Suzanne Collins, four parts crazy and shake over ice. Serve with grated nut(meg).
  
  In case you were worried it might be too thorny or dense, though, take comfort: "It is an easy read, written at a middle-school or high-school level. Chapters are no more than five pages long, with one as short as a page and a half. The brevity of the chapter divisions make it easy for one to read a chapter or two, even when pressed for time." PHEW I was worried there for about ten seconds that I would have to be making my way through some Frankfurt School-level theorizing. Then I realized it wasn't actually political philosophy or even well-written or even really written at all but merely some kind of vaguely smudged paper held together in a shape not quite but almost exactly unlike a book.
  
  I can't believe Beck actually believes that the UN's Agenda 21, which is a harmless enough piece of rhetoric as far as the developed world is concerned (don't pollute every single thing with which you come into contact! don't strip mine and deforest and overfish!) is actually going to terminate in people toiling away on treadmills to produce "energy" (wow, gonna take a lot of treadmills) and existing on "sleeping mats" like POWs and being dragged out randomly by fascist Authorities and disappeared. The UN is going to do all that? Seriously? The UN can't even—
  
  Oh don't get me started. Besides we all know that, in the beautifully phrased sentiments of
  this Jezebel writer, "I'm pretty sure that Glenn Beck is actually a talented performance artist and I cannot wait to see his MOMA retrospective 20 years from now."
  
  In the words of the previously mentioned "reviewer," "if you love novels and enjoy reading fiction, then consider this novel a personal treat."
  
  Oh I did. I really did. I almost bought it, to enjoy such a personal treat further in the privacy of my own bonfire, but instead I bought a Twix and a Reese's peanut butter cup before THE EVIL BLACK HELICOPTERS COME TO TAKE AWAY ALL MY PERSONAL SUGARY FREEDOMS GOD BLESS THE USA.
• 
  Stefani

  I can see this kind of thing coming already so let’s get this out of the way. If your reaction to my rating or reading of this book is any of the following, please take note:
  
  “But Stefani, It’s Glenn Beck! OMG, like how could you possibly rate something with that’s bastard’s name on it that high?! What’s wrong with you?!” – Okay, seriously, just go away. It’s a good book, take a sharpie to his name if it annoys you so badly.
  
  “He didn’t even write it, he’s just slapping his name on it to make money!” – True, but it says so in the Afterword that Harriet Parke conceived of and wrote this novel. So if you want to bitch about this, stop buying James Patterson since it’s exactly the same thing. And if you do buy James Patterson yet bitch about this, just go away.
  
  “This is all just the mindless ravings of a lunatic and it’s just so disgusting!” – Go away please. If you are so narrow-minded that you can’t enjoy a good story because of whose name is on the cover then there is just no hope for you.
  
  Now, if you’ve made it this far, this book was fantastic. I couldn’t stop reading it, I have kept thinking about it after I stopped reading it, I want to know what happens after the last page, I have to know what happens! This is not a difficult book, it doesn’t use big words and it isn’t overly complex but it really doesn’t need to be. It’s dark, sinister and disturbing all on its own. I stayed up half the night on a week day when I had to work just to read this. Seriously go read it, now. Don’t even finish this review, just go!
  
  Emmeline is a sweet character and I couldn’t help but want to protect her. She has been raised in this community for most of her life and knows of no other way of life, yet she hears stories from her mother about how things used to be. Never very curious about why it all happened, she just listens to the stories and walks her energy board every day like a good Citizen should. She is paired with an older man and has a daughter, who is taken by the community Authorities to be raised in the Children’s Village. That is when things begin to change for Emmeline. Shortly after her mother is taken away because she is no longer being productive and she is re-paired with another man. It is only then that she starts to question the status quo and worry that her opportunity to learn the truth might have passed.
  
  I really liked the way the plot of this book played out. It doesn’t really seem all that bad at first, everything is provided for you and all you have to do is your assigned job to produce for the community and produce new citizens. Seems great. But it’s not. It is confining and restricting. Unfortunately for the younger citizens, how do you yearn for freedom when you have never known it? For Emmeline it is when her daughter is taken from her, which was a heartbreaking moment. The true horrors of this community are never fully explained but alluded to. I liked that since it added to the horror of it but isn’t explicit. Everything was so bleak and dark, even the colors of everything in this world.
  
  I can’t recommend this book enough. I don’t dare say too much about it since it might give too much away. All I will say is that this is so far poised to be my Book of the Year for 2013.
  
  Read this and other reviews at my blog
  Stefani's World of Words
• 
  Emma

  This had me in the first few pages! I absolutely loved the story line. Of course, I'm a huge fan of reading about futuristic dystopian societies. I think Harriet Parke's writing was tasteful, yet powerful - easily creating vivid images. Even though traditional "Glenn Beck" undertones and pulses were felt throughout, I don't believe it took away from the story. Once I started, I couldn't put it down. It is a quick and easy read - I read it in just under 5 hours.
  
  What I didn't like: The ending to me felt a little rushed; too abrupt. The ending sets us up for a new beginning for the main characters without glimpsing what that might entail. I felt gypped - unrewarded as a reader; it was almost like saying, "And they lived happily ever after." Then, I saw there was an afterword.
  
  Hope-filled, I read on only to be disappointed that it was an explanation of the book in the form of political rhetoric. I felt duped or tricked as I began to read the afterword because Mr. Beck tells us that he and Harriet Parke knew that "we" (American readers) probably wouldn't pick up a piece of non-fiction or a newspaper article on the same subject, and we'd be more likely to read about Agenda 21 if it were presented to us in the form of a fiction novel. He goes on to write that if we liked the story, we should prompt others to read it, hiding the fact that Agenda 21 is a real proposition, with further instruction not to even mention the afterword. I was offended that Mr. Beck assumes that I am an ignorant person who wouldn't care enough about my society to learn about something like this on my own, and that I have to be tricked into reading about it. Regardless if I agree with you on Agenda 21 or not, Mr. Beck, Give me SOME credit will ya? I only skimmed the rest of the afterword, deciding I could read it on the UN's website whenever I wanted, without all of Beck's political repartee.
  
  Personally, I picked up the book to be entertained, and to feel inspired by the thought-provoking material. To that end, it was a gratifying experience. Now, I want to know what happens next. Ms. Harriet Parke, a sequel please?
• 
  William

  This book was recommended to me. It seems like my kind of dystopia. It has hints of 1984 and Handmaid’s tale. Let me just say it is awful. Its too elementary. Our main character doesn’t know how the world works and even through we do we get to learn about it along with her. Information we already know and don’t need a walk through. It made it boring. It might have some right wing/left wing agenda. I never can keep the radicals straight. It has a clear political agenda that if we removed the bible and allow free thinkers to run the country, we will all become slaves in a worse than communist country where we are all the same. Babies won’t live without love and so on. Forget the political agenda the writing doesn’t move me, and the story moves slow and I have no love for the main character. She is no Katniss or Wilson. I do try to rate YA on that level, but this book seems like it’s meant to brainwash a fifth grader. Much of the text works better as back story to set a book and not the novel itself. I was disappointed based on the recommendation. It strikes fear as its easy for people to fall for feelings of being safe over being free. But there is no grad set up. Its just life in this dystopia and then we leave, and all is happy. Also there is no hint for the low birth rate. I could keep going, but really the poor writing alone keeps me from recommending it. I usually ignore the Author’s personal beliefs but if this was meant to be a warning it fails. We shouldn’t see this strange world as the protagonist learns of it. She lives there grew up there and she should live there and we on our own should figure out it’s a nightmare.
  The ending epilogue claims Agenda 21 is real and there is a real Agenda 21, but to tough upon the terror this plan could lead too the novel fails again. The Hunger Games sets a better tone and more people might feel it could happen over this book.
  
• 
  Lanie Blackburn

  Real eye opening book about what could happen to our society if people don't pay attention to what politicans and those in power are doing.
  
  Loved Emmeline! So grown up for being so young. And her affection for her baby Elsa when she is just a child herself is heartwarming. She lost her parents but even for the short time she had them in her life, she learned from them.
  
  I wish we all had a David in our life. So caring and in the end willing to do whatever needed to be done to be with Emmeline and Elsa. I wish the story would have gone on but I know it was right to end it there.
  
  The point of this book was not necessarily what happens to the characters after they get out of the compound but more why they were in the compound in the first place.
  
  I urge people to read this book to see that Agenda 21 is a real possibility and not just fiction. The U.N. has plans to implement Agenda 21 and while this story is just that, a story, the premise is not. If people of this country are not awake and vigilant, those in power will make laws that eventually take all our freedoms away.
  
  If you like the Hunger Games, Agenda 21 will be right up your alley. Please read it.
• 
  Sarah

  Let me preface this review by saying I'm interested/horrified with the information I have already gathered about Agenda 21, which is why I read this in the first place (regardless of Glenn Beck listing himself as an author). Because of this, I really, really wanted to like this book.
  
  That being said, I really didn't like this book. The story was simplistic, which is sometimes fine, but in combination with the juvenile writing, and the poor editing (maybe just an issue with the e-book version I got), and the complete lack of climactic events, I was just not impressed with this book at all.
  
  For those of you interested in Agenda 21 (which in reality, should be everyone), read it, don't read it - it really doesn't matter, but do some research on your own, educate yourself! If reading this book will help you get motivated to do it, great...if you don't need a fictional story to motivate you, equally great, but in either case, everyone would benefit from knowing more about Agenda 21.
• 
  Ashley Logan

  This book is scary! There is a possibility that this could happen. Remember Hitler and what he did. This is similar except it happens here, in the United States of America! This is not like other fictional novels where the world changes by an environmental event or even a bombing from another country. Here our country is the threat to us! I think this is a must read and the afterward is full of important facts. We need to pay attention to these facts! We need to be prepared and we need to prepare the generations that come after us. If you want to educate yourself about politics this is a must read! The fictional story is awesome and hard to put down, but, once again, the facts in the back should not be ignored!
• 
  Jihm

  The first chapter and Glenn Beck's afterword are available on Amazon.
  
  The narrative is presented as the inevitable consequences of environmental "over" protectionism. If you like The Handmaid's Tale, Farenheit 451, and 1984, prepare to retch all over the pages of this book.
  
  Glenn Beck should realize that an apocalyptic future where everything is dictated, uniform, and rationed will be much more likely if humanity fails to protect the resources we have now. In the unnamed year when the plot takes place (it's set in the near future, let's say, 1984), the entire infrastructure of America has transformed, over the period of one generation, into a dystopic wasteland of verdant forests and scenic vistas (sounds dreadful). Abject poverty, ignorance, and avarice could potentially one day create a world this bleak (again, a subject treated much better by several (actual) authors).
  
  A world where humanity is blissfully self-centered, and thereby all the resources have been used up or destroyed, makes an autocratic dystopia much more probable than a world where every nation and every individual does their part to cut back on the energy they consume. It will not be easy, and I know you're scared Glenn Beck, but writing (or putting your name on a novel someone else wrote) misguided hortations against environmental reform does not help any of us.
  
  Do not waste your time with this drivel. Read Cormac McCarthy's The Road instead.
• 
  Kristina Seleshanko

  I'd never read a book in one day - until I read Harriet Parke's "Agenda 21." This hard-to-put-down novel sucked me in instantly. In it, we follow a teenage girl awakening to the horror of the society she's grown up in - a futuristic world where the environment always comes first, people are the source of all energy, and the weak are dispensable. Emmeline can't fight back...but she doesn't have to do nothing, either.
  
  Oh, and for those who are put off by Glenn Beck's name prominently displayed on the novel - don't worry; he didn't write this book. He has a contract with Simon & Schuster that indicates any book he publishes must have his name on it. (I suppose because that pretty much guarantees huge sales.) But actually, Beck and his company just "discovered" the manuscript, written by Parke. And, boy, can she write. I can't wait for her next novel!
• 
  Christian Larsen

  Glenn Beck has constructed an absolutely impossible scenario. No totalitarian regime has even approached the conditions he describes, and if Glenn Beck things they could he has too much faith in institutional power and too little in humanity. This is one of the most depressing narratives I've ever read and is much too slow to deserve the description "A Thriller." This isn't the world war 3 or Day After Tomorrow type of disaster, but If you're drawn to the apocalyptic "end of the world as we know it" type of fiction, this book is for you, however please remember it is just that....pure fiction.
• 
  LuAnn Adams

  Writing style is not inspirational, but the story is so intriguing that it stays with you long after you are done.
• 
  Audrey

  I was expecting a nonfiction commentary when I started this, which was what I got in the Afterword. I found that part more interesting than the novel. The story was written by Harriet Parke, and the Afterword was written by Glenn Beck. It's a commentary about the UN's Agenda 21 proposal, a typical Progressive central planning dream. The novel is a what-if of what could happen if the proposal were taken to an extreme.
  
  The story is written like there's never been another dystopia ever written. It's very slow. The first two CDs (out of 7) were a flashback of the main character's life and full of info-dumps, which continue throughout. The story should have either started at the beginning of this flashback or simply hinted at it later on. Today's audiences are pretty good at gleaning information. That whole section could have been cut and simply referenced when needed.
  
  Most dystopias show the main character becoming disillusioned with their society and then looking for a way out or a way to fight back. This expected turning point didn't happen until the very, very end. It was good in that the main character's decision to not take it anymore was realistic. But it made the story slower because I was expecting it to happen a lot sooner. The ending was fairly interesting and suspenseful, but I had to wade through a lot of exposition to get there.
  
  The characters are very flat and undeveloped. Emmeline is a classic Mary Sue. The writing is very plain and simple for the most part. Occasionally, the writer remembered that writing should be interesting and then would write a few nicely written passages. I never quite got the "downloading energy" concept. In real life, the citizens would have gone insane living like this, or there'd be mass suicides. So it's best not to take the story too literally.
• 
  Glen Stott

  Glenn is the prince of conspiracy theory. While many people gasp at the audacity of his theories, they do make for interesting fiction. In this futuristic novel the United Nations’ “Agenda 21” is taken to one possible conclusion. Everyone is equal and the environment comes first in all decisions. In order to prevent rebellion, communication between groups of people is blocked. The story is told in 1st person by a young girl coming of age. She lives in a concrete hunt in a compound that is divided into several different functions. In her area, the function is to create energy. She has treadmill in her hut that she walks all day long. It is connected to a generator that produces electricity as she walks. The “walking board” has a meter that measures the amount of energy she generates. Each day she is required to generate a specific amount of energy, which takes her most of the day to do. For that she is given a 3" X 3" X 3" nutrition cube and a specific amount of water each morning and each night. Everyone gets exactly the same amount of water and nutrition and must generate the same amount of power; equality is the key. When she reaches sexual maturity, a boy is picked for her, and they are “paired” for as long as the "Authorities" choose. They are expected to produce children who are taken from them at birth. The mother is unconscious when the baby is born and the father is at work, so they never see the child and never will. Everything is equal, but not much is produced, so everyone is equally miserable. Most of the planet has been "re-wilded" and people live in isolated high density compounds. A rather dismal story a la 1984 by George Orwell. The ending was unsatisfactory to me, unless there is a sequel.