The state-sponsored terror scene is reminiscent of imagery from Nazi Germany, the pre-civil rights South, Islamic State at its apex and other eras of institutionalized persecution, fanaticism and subjugation captured by news cameras. In the world of "The Handmaid's Tale," it fell during a second civil war into the hands of the radical religious right. The new totalitarian regime's call to arms is America's falling birth rates. By forcing fertile women to bear children for elite commanders and their barren wives, they'll save the human race. Just don't resist, or you'll be expunged from the very race they claim to be saving.

Source: Los Angeles Times April 25, 2018 09:00 UTC