The Wave by Todd Strasser

Published in 1981, The Wave is a fictional story based on a real incident in a 1969 high school history class in California. 

Laurie and David are students learning about WWII in Mr. Ross' history class. No one in the class can comprehend how the German people blindly followed Hitler and the Nazis in the 1940s. Mr. Ross creates an experiment, The Wave, in order to demonstrate to his students the influence of authority. The Wave is a metaphor for the Nazi party and Mr. Ross becomes its dictator.  In The Wave, everyone is viewed as equal despite their social differences. The entire high school soon joins the movement. Only Laurie and David recognize The Wave for its manipulative nature and try to stop it. 

This book stresses the importance of independent thinking and of not blindly following the majority. If we are not aware of the importance of independent thinking, we can allow ourselves to be manipulated by dictators.

I think this story is poorly written; there is no clear writing style and I will not remember the author's name. The only good thing about this book is its main message, but for that alone, it is worth reading.

This book rates two out of five stars because the writing was terrible.