What Ownership's All About Book

What Ownership's All About is a darkly humorous novel about what power, even a tiny amount of it, does to a person, and to the people under his thumb. Jan Faktor, a policeman, has just built a three-family house on the outskirts of pre-Communist Prague. Three tenants move in with the greatest of expectations, based on the wonderful picture the policeman has painted of life in his building. When the policeman ends up landlording it over his tenants, they respond by fearfully conceding to his increasingly absurd demands, and by huffing and puffing for all they're worth. The result is a small-scale study of the attitudes that formed the basis for fascism and appeasement.