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The Devil's Advocate (book)

Taylor Caldwell

Last modified: 2019-02-08 by peter hans van den muijzenberg
Keywords: the devil's advocate | democracy of america | minute men | caldwell (taylor) |
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Introduction

Many, many years ago I had the misfortune to read a novel titled The Devil's Advocate by Taylor Caldwell, a truly dreadful American writer. In it, the US is in the grip of a collectivist dictatorship and the country's name has been changed to The Democracy of America. There is, of course, an underground freedom-fighting organization called the Minute Men — what else? I can't recommend the book, but I thought the flags were worth a mention.
Tom Gregg, 3 June 1999


Democracy of America

[Flag of the Democracy of America]
image by Eugene Ipavec, 12 April 2006

Caldwell provides a description of The Democracy's flag: "bloody of background and bearing a single bloated white star."
Tom Gregg, 3 June 1999

Gules, a mullet argent is "the debased red rag of the Democracy of America".
Alexander Justice, 14 November 1995

A 'bloated' star could be the 'rounded' star of the USSR, which has its inner diameter equal to half the outer diameter.
Ole Andersen, 12 June 1999

I thought of that, but such a star would look too Soviet Russian. In Caldwell's book, The Democracy of America is a home-grown totalitarian regime. In fact, the author tells us that The Democracy fought and won a war with the USSR some years before the time at which the novel's action begins. Thus an "American" type of star seemed more appropriate. I took "bloated" to mean simply "large."
Tom Gregg, 12 June, 1999


Minute Men

[Flag of the Democracy of America]
image by Eugene Ipavec, 12 April 2006

The flag of the Minute Men is also described by the author: It bears crossed rifles in dark blue on a white field.
Tom Gregg, 3 June 1999