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As critic Gary Scharnhorst writes in an afterword to a recent edition of this classic: “The riposte to ‘it can’t happen here’ is ‘it already has.”

To fill in for the debate’s abysmal silences, here are a few quotes from the afterword about the ongoing carnage:

“You like it darker? Fine. So do I,” King states in his afterword.

This collection’s afterword reads like a recording from King’s therapist’s couch, or a confessional on a reality TV series.

And, as we learn in the heart-rending afterword by the author’s daughter Kayla Min Andrews, we almost didn’t get this one.