Agenda 21 by Glenn Beck

277 pages

"'I was just a baby when we were relocated and I don't remember much. Everybody has that black hole at the beginning of their life. That time you can't remember. Your first step. Your first taste of table food. My real memories begin in our assigned living area in Compound 14.'

Just a generation ago, this place was called America. Now, after the worldwide implementation of a UN-led program called Agenda 21, it's simply known as 'the Republic.' There is no president. No Congress. No Supreme Court. No freedom.

There are only the Authorities.

Citizens have two primary goals in the new Republic: to create clean energy and to create new human life. Those who cannot do either are of no use to society.

This bleak and barren existence is all that eighteen-year-old Emmeline has ever known. She dutifully walks her energy board daily and accepts all male pairings assigned to her by the Authorities. Like most citizens, she keeps her head down and her eyes closed.

Until the day they come for her mother.

'You save what you think you're going to lose.'

Woken up to the harsh reality of her life and her family's future inside the Republic, Emmeline begins to search for the truth. Why are all citizens confined to ubiquitous concrete living spaces? Why are Compounds guarded by Gatekeepers who track all movements? Why are food, water and energy rationed so strictly? And, most important, why are babies taken from their mothers at birth?

As Emmeline begins to understand the true objectives of Agenda 21 she realizes that she is up against far more than she ever thought. With the Authorities closing in, and nowhere to run, Emmeline embarks on an audacious plan to save her family and expose the Republic - but is she already too late?" -Dust Jacket

This is the first Glenn Beck book I've read. The chilling aspect of this book is that Agenda 21 is real and you can see how it is infiltrating our lives today if you know what to look for. This book is Agenda 21 taken to the extreme but it's not completely unimaginable in our future. The afterword is worth reading.

Emmeline is likable enough albeit sort of bland. That's not her fault though, considering where she lives and how she's grown up. Can you imagine walking on a treadmill pretty much all day every day and that's about all you do? Your home is a concrete box and the animals outside the fence are fed better and treated better than you are. Babies are taken from their mothers because the Authorities know best how to raise them...and then they wonder why the children aren't thriving. (Speaking of which, I saw an interesting story on the news about how music affects babies in the NICU.) Emmeline's world is changed when she has a baby and it is taken from her to be raised in the Children's Village. Then she's paired with someone she actually cares about and realizes that she has things to lose and things to fight for. Her mother has stashed mementos in her mattress for Emmeline to find that remind her of life before and that will help her in the future. The book ended a bit abruptly for me. I'm sure it's meant to leave the reader with hope for Emmeline and let you imagine what happened next, but sometimes it's nice to know what the author would have written had he kept going!