Glenn Beck and Harriet Parke's Agenda 21: Into the Shadows continues the story of Emmeline's escape from the compound, after the cliffhanger ending of Agenda 21. She flees with her husband, her baby girl, and one of the boys at the compound. As Into the Shadows begins, her husband's parents follow after them, with a team of enforcers in pursuit.
While the political themes of Agenda 21 are still present in this sequel, the emphasis is on the escape, survival, and the chase. Emmeline and David meet up with an old couple who fled before the Authority took over and have been living in a cave for years. Emmeline sees the luxurious compound where the top Authorities live. Earth Protection Agency (EPA--haha!) enforcers are shown to be ruthless (but a little clueless) in their hunting of the escapees.
Less a political tract than a story of survival and escape, Agenda 21: Into the Shadows nevertheless illustrates the depravity and unsustainability of a centrally controlled, authoritarian regime. As Emmeline discovers, such a system may talk about equality, but some are more equal than others, as George Orwell would say.
Beck notes that the Agenda 21 novels are over-the-top. But he also notes that the actual Agenda 21 could be applied and lead to, in the extreme, the Authority, the compounds, and the Earth Protection Agency. Once we really look at the proposals of Agenda 21, we would be wise to heed Beck's words of warning and vigilantly protect our freedoms. As another novelist wrote, to say "It can't happen here" might be all it takes to get the ball rolling toward it happening here!
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