Lisbeth Salander & Sweden's Immigration Referendum

The late Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy is a worldwide, slam-dunk bestseller. The first installment had a simple title: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Two 'girl' books follow it.

The franchise (not recommended for minors or straight arrows) are a series of crime/political thrillers featuring a one-of-a-kind heroine named Lisbeth Salander, who is a world-class hacker and a world-class anarchist.

I bring up the books not to chat about pop culture zeitgeists or to do a Steve Sailer imitation, but rather to note that, in the reference section of the last book - The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest - the author incorporates Swedish immigration history (specfically, the Swedish municipality of Sjöbo's referendum about refugees, led by a local politico named Sven-Olle Olsson).

Despite the negative spin, Olsson is noted "for standing up determinedly for his neighbors against the national government's determination to override and encroach upon a local people's prerogatives of being hostile to accepting refugees." The right to be hostile, eh?

Author Larsson, a native of Sweden and a radical socialist, was no fan of the referendum. And he, like the actor Alan Alda, was an ardent feminist.

Given that background, he would not have been sympathetic to the Tea Party populists and their particular concerns. Interestingly, Larsson's book is in a ratings battle with Glenn Beck's The Overton Window.

Update: This Lisbeth admirer reminds readers that one of her strong points is that she's not a vampire. Yeah, sure, but she still has issues. Lots of issues.