The Final Solution: A Novel for the End of Days [Paperback]

R. F. Dietrich (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 20, 2000

The terrorist bombs and guns going off in our world, along with practically every bit of political violence of the last forty years, starting with the assassination of President Kennedy, are part of a single man's demented plot to "save the world" through terror and a climactic, apocalyptic act of sacrifice that will make the crucifixion of Christ look insignificant. Or so we are told by Wolf Berlin, who has accidentally uncovered the mad plot on the Net. Who is Wolf Berlin? He is a man who has always wanted to found a new religion and who now is tempted by the mad genius, a long-lost old friend, to be the Peter and Paul of what looks to be a very effective "religion of the future," one that will bring the global peace Wolf so hungers for. After the dust settles, that is. Whether Wolf agrees to it or not, the Apocalypse is scheduled for the near future. Wolf struggles with his decision to either try to stop the mad plot or join it, as the Doomsday clock ticks on.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

In THE FINAL SOLUTION, Wolf Berlin is an aging anthropologist who has written a book called HOLY WARS as a prelude to attempting to construct a religion that he desperately hopes may avoid the Holy Wars he sees coming by sweeping away differences. We need only dip into HOLY WARS here and there to recognize the voice of a prophet crying in the wilderness:

"The Ebola virus of religious ideas is the notion that some are saved and most are damned, and especially virulent is the apocalyptic version that imagines a time when the sheep will be separated from the goats, the ‘pure’ from the ‘impure,’ once and for all. Zoroaster may have been the first infected, but Jews, Christians, and Moslems are the principal carriers, and they are bringing a colossal plague to mankind."

"The Great Satan is theocracy, the most tyrannical form of government. Because it tends to be the most wrong about reality, theocracy always needs coercion to gain assent. The Grand Inquisitor and the most totalitarian pope, priest, pastor, rabbi, or ayatollah are not aberrations of theocracy but its epitome.”

"The fatal flaw in American democracy is its protection of religious freedom, for many of the religions it tolerates are sworn to replace democracy with theocracy at the earliest opportunity and in the meantime to at least weaken democracy by any means necessary."

"Have we at last come to an end of tolerating ignorant belief? The great majority of True Believers may still be relatively harmless, but the wealthy and powerful and shrewd and terrorist-minded can now get their hands on weapons of mass destruction, and a handful of fanatics can now impose their insanity upon the entire globe.”

"Religion is going to be the death of us, if the lack of it doesn't get us first."

Such provocative statements as these, however, are not enough to get the world's attention, so Wolf desperately devises more ingenious ways of alerting the world to the catastrophe he sees coming, and that strategy is the heart of this startling novel.

From the Author

My novel shows us a number of catastrophic “Final Solutions” that we may stumble into or have imposed upon us in the years to come, but here I would like to propose an alternate “Final Solution.” It begins with understanding that, as my hero comes to see, “the Final Solution is that there is no Final Solution.” That is, life is not a novel and does not have a nice, neat ending, and, despite our hunger for apocalyptic closure, it never will. So, as all generations have, we must aim for temporary political accommodations that provide as lasting a peace in the world as we can manage, leaving to future generations the pleasure of “solving” their own problems in a manner appropriate to their time. Still, what “solution” is appropriate to our time, a time of terror and counter-terror?

We are told that America and the West has embarked on a war with Terrorism, not with Islam. To have any hope of that turning out to be the case, I suggest that we must force a peace in the Middle East, so that moderate Arab states can at least remain neutral and stop proving such a fertile recruiting ground and harbor for terrorists. A central element of any peace negotiation might be the internationalization of Jerusalem, proposed by the hero of my novel and one thing I agree with him about. Jerusalem was a Moslem holy city for longer than it was a Jewish holy city, and it was even a Christian holy city for a time. And many other religions have been cherished there as well. So Jerusalem belongs to the world. And in giving Jerusalem to the world, to the United Nations, we may take the first solid step toward a world sufficiently united to defeat terrorism. Think about it! This "Final Solution" might be the only viable alternative to the catastrophic "Final Solution" that may otherwise be upon us.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 648 pages
• Publisher: Writers Club Press (October 20, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595132731
• ISBN-13: 978-0595132737
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,190,913 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)