George Lincoln Rockwell’s Ducks and Hens
How the leader of the American Nazi Party published a children’s book
Even aside from its racist and openly Fascist central message, The Fable of the Ducks and the Hens: A Dramatic Saga of Intrigue, Propaganda and Subversion was never going to make George Lincoln Rockwell an icon of children’s literature. For a start, pre-schoolers were unlikely to find the title particularly meaningful or quotable. Illustrator Robert Edwards’ art style is distinctive, but the book is too long and has too many similar pictures to hold the interest of a young child. It lacks identifiable characters.
It is filled with polysyllabic political terms — reactionary, discrimination, atrocities — and finishes with the Latin phrase ad infinitum. It covers some pretty dark subject matter, including the use of hard drugs and the execution of a goose for war crimes. It is clearly no Green Eggs and Ham. Nonetheless, the blurb promises that “children and adults alike will be delighted” by the story. When it came to political propaganda, Rockwell was a shameless optimist.
The Author
