Powells.com Staff Pick
"I have very little to add to the praise that has already been heaped on The Plot against America. That most esteemed critic, Harold Bloom, has already called it 'a wise and fascinating book.' Why do you need my opinion? Still, with a new Roth novel hitting the shelves every year, it's impossible to keep up. Readers must be asking themselves, why read this one? The answer is that Philip Roth's twenty-seventh book is different from anything he's published before." C. P. Farley, Powells.com (read the entire Powells.com review)
"Much of The Plot Against America consists of the child Philip's relatively ordinary boyhood experiences....The voice is an adult's, but not intrusively so. And meanwhile, underneath it all, the hum of menace grows louder and louder, until the disaster stalking Philip's America becomes indistinguishable from the routine disasters of growing up, and then suddenly eclipses them." Laura Miller, Salon.com (read the entire Salon.com review)
"The Plot Against America offers a plausible description of a world that never was. It may not be one of Roth's four or five best books. But nobody else would even have tried it, and such distinctions matter little in a career of such fecundity and length, a career in which his different counterlives have started to run together, a Yoknapatawpha, a controlled explosion of the mind." Michael Gorra, The Times Literary Supplement (read the entire Times Literary Supplement review)
"Once again, Philip Roth has published a novel that you must read — now. It's not that an appreciation of his book depends on the political climate; our appreciation of the political climate depends on his book. During a bitterly contested election in a time of war against an amorphous enemy, The Plot Against America inspires exactly the kind of discussion we need." Ron Charles, The Christian Science Monitor (read the entire Christian Science Monitor review)
Synopses & Reviews
When the renowned aviation hero and rabid isolationist Charles A. Lindbergh defeated Franklin Roosevelt by a landslide in the 1940 presidential election, fear invaded every Jewish household in America. Not only had Lindbergh, in a nationwide radio address, publicly blamed the Jews for selfishly pushing America toward a pointless war with Nazi Germany, but upon taking office as the thirty-third president of the United States, he negotiated a cordial understanding with Adolf Hitler, whose conquest of Europe and virulent anti-Semitic policies he appeared to accept without difficulty.
What then followed in America is the historical setting for this startling new book by Pulitzer Prize-winner Philip Roth, who recounts what it was like for his Newark family — and for a million such families all over the country — during the menacing years of the Lindbergh presidency, when American citizens who happened to be Jews had every reason to expect the worst.
Review:
"During his long career, Roth has shown himself a master at creating fictional doppelgängers. In this stunning novel, he creates a mesmerizing alternate world as well, in which Charles A. Lindbergh defeats FDR in the 1940 presidential election, and Philip, his parents and his brother weather the storm in Newark, N.J. Incorporating Lindbergh's actual radio address in which he accused the British and the Jews of trying to force America into a foreign war, Roth builds an eerily logical narrative that shows how isolationists in and out of government, emboldened by Lindbergh's blatant anti-Semitism (he invites von Rippentrop to the White House, etc.), enact new laws and create an atmosphere of religious hatred that culminates in nationwide pogroms. Historical figures such as Walter Winchell, Fiorello La Guardia and Henry Ford inhabit this chillingly plausible fiction, which is as suspenseful as the best thrillers and illustrates how easily people can be persuaded by self-interest to abandon morality. The novel is, in addition, a moving family drama, in which Philip's fiercely ethical father, Herman, finds himself unable to protect his loved ones, and a family schism develops between those who understand the eventual outcome of Lindbergh's policies and those who are co-opted into abetting their own potential destruction. Many episodes are touching and hilarious: young Philip experiences the usual fears and misapprehensions of a pre-adolescent; locks himself into a neighbor's bathroom; gets into dangerous mischief with a friend; watches his cousin masturbating with no comprehension of the act. In the balance of personal, domestic and national events, the novel is one of Roth's most deft creations, and if the lollapalooza of an ending is bizarre with its revisionist theory about the motives behind Lindbergh's anti-Semitism, it's the subtext about what can happen when government limits religious liberties in the name of the national interest that gives the novel moral authority. Roth's writing has never been so direct and accessible while retaining its stylistic precision and acute insights into human foibles and follies. Forecast: With its intriguing premise and thriller-tense plot, it's likely that this novel will broaden Roth's readership while instigating provocative debate." Publishers Weekly (Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information, Inc.)
Review:
"There are occasional breaches in the 'what-if' conceit...but the overall effect of the novel is staggering....This magnificent novel is both appropriate to today's headlines and timeless for its undermining of the blind sentiment that 'it can't happen here.'" Booklist (Starred Review)
Review:
"[H]ilarious and terrifying by turns, it's a sumptuous interweaving of narrative, characterization, speculation, and argument...at the summit of Roth's achievement. An almost unbelievably rich book, and another likely major prizewinner." Kirkus Reviews
Review:
"While the author tries...to turn a wide-angled camera lens on the United States...
The Plot Against America hurries toward a preposterous (albeit clever) ending and takes place in a political landscape that remains cartoony in the extreme."
Michiko Kakutani, The New York TimesReview:
"[Philip is] the ideal narrator for this sinuous and brilliant book, with its extreme sweetness (new in Roth), its black pain, and its low, ceaseless cackle." The New Yorker
Review:
"This may be alternative history, but it is chillingly and convincingly realistic....The reader watches, horrified yet totally absorbed, as America spirals down the path toward fascism....[A] remarkable achievement. Highly recommended." Library Journal
Review:
"When everyone else in the room is shouting, Mr. Roth's piquant storytelling is what makes you want to listen and suspend disbelief." Frank Rich, The New York Times
Review:
"Written in pitch-perfect prose....Wherever one stands, this novel is a reminder that the American people are culpable for their president; they pick him, and therefore they must be held accountable for his actions." Miami Herald
Review:
"[A] terrific political novel....
The Plot Against America begins to rock almost violently in your lap — as if a second novel, something from our own time, had been locked inside and was banging furiously on the walls, trying to get out."
Paul Berman, The New York Times Book ReviewReview:
"
The Plot Against America stands almost in a category by itself, a book driven by twin engines of historical curiosity....It turns theories into history and obsession into art and makes for some of the most fascinating reading of the season."
Chicago TribuneReview:
"[T]he windup will not only keep you glued to your chair but also spur you into deep contemplation about American history....Rich as [the novel] is...Roth cannot quite make us forget that this book is a fantasy, that the things related in it never happened." Chicago Sun-Times
Review:
"A sense of forboding, of something horrible about to happen — doubly horrible because it will happen here, on familiar streets — permeates page after page of
The Plot Against America, giving it a compulsive readability."
St. Petersburg TimesReview:
"[P]owerful....Although much of this novel is really an affectionate picture of urban Jewish society on the eve of World War II, its ability to capture uneasiness and creeping paranoia is brilliant and disturbing." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Review:
"Roth has imagined this past so thoroughly in all its details that within a few pages the reader is under the book's spell....Roth's late-career metamorphosis into a social novelist is impressive, but what is even more impressive is the glow of compassion in much of his later work." Newsday
Review:
"
The Plot Against America displays none of Roth's characteristic mix of rage and hilarity. Nor does it adequately convey much of the profound sympathy for its characters that has enriched Roth's best novels."
Baltimore SunReview:
"
The Plot Against America builds with force and pathos to a fever pitch; up until the last two chapters, it might very well be the best thing Philip Roth has ever written. But then the author drops the ball, with an abrupt and awkward climax."
Dallas-Ft. Worth Star TelegramReview:
"It may well be [Roth's] best [novel], and it may well arouse more controversy than all the rest combined....
The Plot Against America is far and away the most outward-looking, expansive, least narcissistic book Roth has written."
Jonathan Yardley, The Washington PostReview:
"Confounding and illuminating, enraging and discomfiting, imaginative and utterly — terrifyingly — believable....As crucial as history, it is also as ferocious." Daniel Handler, The San Francisco Chronicle
Review:
"[W]hereas in [past] books the internal strife that drives [Roth's] characters also drives his narratives, this time the internal takes a back seat to the historical....[I]t makes for the most intense book Roth has written to date." Rocky Mountain News
Review:
"How plausible is the scenario of Mr. Roth's novel? Not very, although it cannot be entirely dismissed....For the novelist, a grand political narrative is less important than its intimate effects, and...for a while, Mr. Roth captures our interest." Wall St. Journal
Review:
"Roth writes clearly and at times with flair....His depiction of his family brings fine moments of real emotion. But the book's impact is minimized by its fizzle of an ending, which leaves these compelling characters stranded." Providence Journal
Synopsis:
In this alternate history, Pulitzer Prize-winner Roth considers what it would be like for his Newark family — and for a million such families all over the country — during the menacing years of a Charles Lindbergh presidency, when American citizens who happened to be Jews would have every reason to expect the worst.
About the Author
In 1997 Philip Roth won the Pulitzer Prize for
American Pastoral. In 1998 he received the National Medal of Arts at the White House, and in 2002 received the highest award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Gold Medal in Fiction, previously awarded to John Dos Passos, William Faulkner, and Saul Bellow, among others. He has twice won the National Book Award, the PEN/Faulkner Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award.
In 2005, Philip Roth will become the third living American writer to have his work published in a comprehensive, definitive edition by the Library of America. The last of the eight volumes is scheduled for publication in 2013.
Table of Contents
1
June 1940–October 1940
Vote for Lindbergh or Vote for War ? 1
2
November 1940–June 1941
Loudmouth Jew ? 44
3
June 1941–December 1941
Following Christians ? 83
4
January 1942–February 1942
The Stump ? 122
5
March 1942–June 1942
Never Before ? 153
6
May 1942–June 1942
Their Country ? 204
7
June 1942–October 1942
The Winchell Riots ? 237
8
October 1942
Bad Days ? 287
9
October 1942
Perpetual Fear ? 328
Postscript
Note to the Reader 364
A True Chronology of the Major Figures 365
Other Historical Figures in the Work 380
Some Documentation 385
