The Mouse That Roared

The book captivated me from beginning to end. Its observations were dead on, the plot was hilarious, the language was elegant and the characters were loveable. I couldn't ask for anything more.

'Do you believe they'd really explode the bomb?' the President asked. 'Mr. President,' the secretary countered, 'would you have believed they would invade the United States with twenty longbowmen, landing in Manhattan off a chartered sailing vessel?' -The Mouse That RoaredSadly Leonard Wibberley's hilarious satire, The Mouse that Roared seems to be making the slow sad transit from wildly popular bestseller and hit movie in the 50s and 60s to cult classic in the 70s and 80s to largely forgotten in the 90s and 00s. The book, which was originally serialized in the Saturday Evening Post from December 1954 to January 1955 as The Day New York Was Invaded, is no longer in print--despite the fact that the tattered copy I'm holding is something like the 30th printing. And the film does not seem to have been transferred to DVD, though I did find a copy of the equally funny sequel, The Mouse on the Moon. Our growing amnesia is unfortunate, both because this is just a funny story, and also because current events reveal it to still be timely.The tale concerns the Duchy of Grand Fenwick, a tiny European nation which "lies in a precipitous fold of the northern Alps." It was founded in 1370 by British soldier of fortune Roger Fenwick, under not altogether honorable circumstances. Practically the only thing that is produced there, and the only reason anyone has ever heard of it, is a fine wine called Pinot Grand Fenwick. Other than this one export, the nation remains happily isolated, a medieval remnant in the modern world, ruled over by Duchess Gloriana XII--"a pretty girl of twenty-two" in the book, a more matronly woman in the film, so that Peter Sellers can play her--and her prime minister, the Count of Mountjoy (also played by Peter Sellers).As the story begins, crisis has descended upon the Grand Duchy in the form of revenue shortfalls. It is determined that the most effective way of raising money is to declare war on the United States, the pretext for which is the introduction of a San Rafael, California winery of a wine called Pinot Grand Enwick, a provocation that can not be allowed to stand. As Gloriana explains the aims of the war : All in all, as I said before, there is no more profitable and sound step for a nation without money or credit to take, than declare war on the United States and suffer a total defeat.It's easy to see why the fortunes of this story changed over the years; written just a few years after the Marshall Plan, it resonated in an America that had won WWII and rebuilt its enemies. But in the late 60s and early 70s, the Left determined that America was evil and that there was nothing honorable nor humorous about the Cold War, Vietnam, or any of the other seemingly benign extensions of American power. Wibberley's witty insight must have seemed the stuff of delusions or insidious propaganda to folks who had convinced themselves that we were really an imperialist nation. But now that the "blame America fir

This is a very well handled story. The author has a number of humane, intelligent things to say, and he says them well... There are two main conflicts in this book, as I see it. First, the contrast between medieval, chivalric ideals of war, (or at least the [not really correct] popular stereotype of them), where everyone involved is constantly worrying about "honor", vs. the modern war, where one bomb, in this case, can totally destroy the entire human race. This conflict is exemplified, in my view, by the hot-blooded, passionate, anachronistic young Grand Fenwickian Tully Bascomb, on the one hand, fighting against the ruthlessly efficient, modern American General Snippett on the other. Second, the conflict between two highly intelligent old men, the wise and humane Pierce Bascomb on the one hand, and the scientifically brilliant but morally myopic Dr. Kokintz on the other. There is a very interesting, and beautifully written, debate between these two men in about chapter 17 or so, (maybe 16 or 18, I forget) it's worth reading over a few times.Watch for the little things in this book -- there is a debate over whether birds that settle in the miniscule duchy of Grand Fenwick should be called by the name they are known as there, or if they should be called whatever the larger (if not, ultimately, more significant) world outside calls them. This argument seemed kind of dumb to me, but if you keep reading Mr. Wibberly gives it a nice little twist, and you can see why he included it.On a personal note, I wish more books about this kind of thing had more positive scientist characters. A lot of folks come to science, and love it, because it gives them a chance to experience wonder about the universe, and this wonder has a lot of value as a bulwark against excessive militarism -- we can unite in a sense of childlike wonder, as opposed to uniting against some enemy... It can be akin to having a love of "peace through music", for me at least.Anyway, back to the book -- lest I forget to say so, let me come right out right now and say that it's very funny. If your sense of humor runs to "Dr. Strangelove", you'll definitely get a big kick out of this book, as well as being provoked by it.

Although this book is now a bit dated, and the cold war humor might be difficult for younger readers to grasp, it is still a tremendously funny read for those who remember or have studied the cold war days. In this book a tiny European country decides that the answer to its financial problems lies in going to war with the United States and loosing. After seeing how the US rebuilt its WWII adversaries it really seems the only sensible way out of their current economic crisis. Add to this a perfectly justifiable reason to make war on the United States in the form of an American company marketing a cheap clone of the nations staple wine label, and you have a unanimous decision for war in the great counsels of Grand Fenwick. The only problem is how to get the Americans to realize that they are at war. An official note declaring war was simply lost in the bureaucracy of the state department. At last they mount a mighty invasion of New York City (with an expeditionary force 20 longbowmen strong). The results are hilarious. Indeed not a chapter went by in which I did not laugh out loud at least a couple times. This was a fun book to read. I think this book is far better than the movie based on it. The only cold war comedy movie that was as good as this book was Dr. Strangelove (although the humor is of a very different verity).

I read The Mouse That Roared about 25 years ago and have been trying to get a copy ever since. It is an absolutely hilarious political satire so it surprises me that it is now considered a children's book. I wonder if children from 4 to 6 will get the jokes, especially the idea that Grand Fenwick must declare war on the United States in order to expand its anemic coffers. I highly recommend this book and Wibberley's other "Mouse" books for anyone who wants a good laugh, including people who, like me, are substantially older than 6.