Book 2, Part 1 Summary

The narrator of the book provides a brief history of the political factions in Ishmaelia which provides a better understanding of the current conflict. The country is primitive at best and is not far removed from the days when cannibalism prevailed. Europeans of various descent have tried to settle it unsuccessfully and the country ultimately falls to a corrupt black family called the Jackson's, headed by General Gollancz Jackson. The country's capital city is quite naturally called Jacksonburg after the tyrannical Jackson family and much foreign currency flows into the city but its usage never reaches the general populace and the Jacksons become increasingly wealthier.

The corruption is revealed by a family member named Smiles Soum, a reported Fascist, who becomes the leader of the White Shirt movement designed to lead the countrymen of Ishmaelia who are tired of the abuses...