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 towards a pointless war with Nazi Germany, but, upon taking office as the 33rd president of the United States, he negotiated a cordial 'understanding' with Adolf Hitler, whose conquest of Europe and whose virulent anti-Semitic policies he appeared to accept without difficulty. What then followed in America is the historical setting for this startling new novel 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.
The Plot Against America
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The Plot Against America is further affirmation of Philip Roth’s status as one of the most revered (and accomplished) of American novelists; another in a long line of highly impressive books that makes the days when he was know only for the masturbatory humour of Portnoy's Complaint seem every remote indeed. The new book is an astonishingly ambitious entry in the genre known as alternative history, and its re-imagining of a fascist America is as plausible and terrifying as previous alternative visions by such writers as Len Deighton and Kingsley Amis (not to mention the countless SF novelists such as Philip K Dick, progenitors of the genre, invariably irritated that their concepts are hijacked by more 'literary' novelists).
In The Plot Against America, the celebrated aviator Charles Lindbergh (almost as well known for his admiration for Hitler as for the famous kidnapping of his baby) becomes President of the United States, and history takes a very different course. Roosevelt soundly defeated, Lindbergh inaugurates an isolationist, anti-war regime, as radical social change ensues; not least the growth of anti-Jewish feeling, fanned by the anti-Semitic Lindbergh. Roth’s Jewish protagonist, Philip, watches as his parents try to ignore the growing threat around them--initially, family holidays are ruined as hotel rooms become mysteriously ‘unavailable’, but soon deportation and worse is the order of the day. Ultimately, a fightback against the new US fascism is slowly engendered.
All of this is handled with the mastery we now routinely expect from Roth, and both characterisation and plotting are structured with total assurance. All the historical detail is terrifyingly plausible, and the final sections (in which Roth reminds us what happened in the real America) seem no more persuasive than what we’ve just read. A visionary, turbulent work of literature. --Barry Forshaw
Review
'another frigteningly intense performance' -- The Sunday Telegraph
Roth's writing has never been so direct and accessible while retaining its stylistic precision and acute insights into human foibles -- Publisher's Weekly
With its intriguing premise and thriller-tense plot, it's likely that this novel will broaden Roth's readership while instigating provocative debate -- The Forecast from Publishers Weekly
Roth's writing has never been so direct and accessible while retaining its stylistic precision and acute insights into human foibles -- Publisher's Weekly
With its intriguing premise and thriller-tense plot, it's likely that this novel will broaden Roth's readership while instigating provocative debate -- The Forecast from Publishers Weekly
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
By Paul D
Format:Hardcover
I must confess that I've never been much of a fan of Philip Roth's work, often finding him too rambling. This book, however, is nothing short of a masterpiece. The central idea is that Charles A. Lindbergh, the famous aviator and Nazi-sympathiser, wins the presidential election in 1936. Having campaigned against US involvement in the Second World War, he ensures that America stays out of what is seen as a European conflict.
The main character is Philip Roth, a young boy whose life revolves around his family: his hard-working father, his devoted mother, and an older brother who takes the side of the anti-semitic Lindbergh. Also in the frame is a cousin who goes off to fight in the war, and returns an amputee, and an aunt who is take in by the glamour of the new regime.
Wisely, Roth the writer steers clear of cataclysmic events. It would have been easy to include internment or concentration camps, but Roth concentrates on small events, the kind that defines our lives. The feeling of fear and paranoia is palpable, but we also see how ordinary, decent people can take a stand and make a difference.
I recommend this book strongly for its human understanding and compassion, as well as for its fine writing.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
By Brian Flange
Format:Paperback
This novel drew a lot of literary praise and a fair amount of political flak when it first appeared in 2004. Philip Roth has done outstanding biographical and autobiographical books before (like 'Patrimony' and 'The Facts') and he's even mixed fiction into seemingly autobiographical books to good effect too, (see the horrifying and hilarious 'Operation Shylock'). Still, 'The Plot Against America' is maybe his most remarkable fusion of fiction and autobiography so far.
This book is mainly the first-person reminiscences of a character called Philip Roth about growing up in early Forties' Newark, but not in the early Forties dominated by F. D. Roosevelt. Instead, in this alternative history, Charles Lindbergh ran as Republican Presidential candidate in 1940 and successfully challenged FDR for the Presidency. Once installed, President Lindbergh reaches an accord with Hitler and passes a series of measures seemingly designed to disperse and isolate America's Jewish community. (In an appendix, Roth reprints some damning remarks from the historical Lindbergh that make the imagined course of the alternative Lindbergh Presidency seem sadly plausible.) The screw tightens very slowly and the escalation of widespread anti-Semitism in a democratic country is made to seem all too convincing.
Some critics leapt on Roth for supposedly offering a short-range satire on the America of George W. Bush and his aides but 'The Plot Against America' isn't really about Bush, or any individual - it's much more about how fragile democracy might be against determined opposition from within. There are a few odd things here - the ending of the book seems rushed and contrived, and sometimes a lot of information gets beamed at the reader in a way more like that of a lecture than a novel. Still, 'The Plot Against America' is an astonishing use of alternative history, even alternative autobiography, and one of Roth's best and most inventive books.
This book is mainly the first-person reminiscences of a character called Philip Roth about growing up in early Forties' Newark, but not in the early Forties dominated by F. D. Roosevelt. Instead, in this alternative history, Charles Lindbergh ran as Republican Presidential candidate in 1940 and successfully challenged FDR for the Presidency. Once installed, President Lindbergh reaches an accord with Hitler and passes a series of measures seemingly designed to disperse and isolate America's Jewish community. (In an appendix, Roth reprints some damning remarks from the historical Lindbergh that make the imagined course of the alternative Lindbergh Presidency seem sadly plausible.) The screw tightens very slowly and the escalation of widespread anti-Semitism in a democratic country is made to seem all too convincing.
Some critics leapt on Roth for supposedly offering a short-range satire on the America of George W. Bush and his aides but 'The Plot Against America' isn't really about Bush, or any individual - it's much more about how fragile democracy might be against determined opposition from within. There are a few odd things here - the ending of the book seems rushed and contrived, and sometimes a lot of information gets beamed at the reader in a way more like that of a lecture than a novel. Still, 'The Plot Against America' is an astonishing use of alternative history, even alternative autobiography, and one of Roth's best and most inventive books.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a fantastic book. It takes an interesting premise (Charles Lindbergh defeating FDR in the 1940 US presidential election running on an anti-war & only slightly masked anti-Semitic agenda) and extrapolates the consequences.
The book is absolutely captivating from the start; it is beautifully written, the characterisation is amazing and the basic premise is handled consistently all the way through. It is a triumph.
Roth concentrates on a single family mainly through the eyes of youngest son Philip and examines the impact of this alternate history. He focuses on the small things (in a nod to Primo Levi?) rather than the wider political context; this is very effective as the tension and the horror build slowly but inexorably.
Things start small: a cousin goes to Canada and enlists (and returns having lost a leg), a family holiday is disrupted, the aunt and older brother effectively join the pro-Lindbergh movement and there is a Jewish resettlement program before the violence starts to escalate... Throughout, the sense of paranoia and fear is almost tangible, as is the misery and pain of a family being torn apart by conflicting allegiances.
A wonderful book, altogether plausible and all the more chilling for it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Engrossing
I like a bit of alternate history and here we have that alternate woven though the life of one family. Read more
Published 26 days ago by PK
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Fine, thought-provoking read
Less prickly than Roth's earlier novels, this offers a good read, a fascinating exercise in historical hypothesis, a vivid portrait of a mid Twentieth-century Jewish childhood and... Read more
Published 29 days ago by Jose Spinks
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant Roth
Firts and foremost, just reading anything by Philip Roth is a treat - he is such a brilliant writer. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Ellen Prothero
2.0 out of 5 stars
Nothing special
Read the book and came away think its ok but nothing special.
I did not engage with the characters at all and found it rather bland to be honest. Read more
I did not engage with the characters at all and found it rather bland to be honest. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mr. Geoffrey Noble
1.0 out of 5 stars
The Plot Against America
Service extremely bad. Recipients address clearly stated on order. (This was checked) Product was sent to totally the wrong town. This needs rectifying in the future
Published 4 months ago by Tony Blackwell
3.0 out of 5 stars
'a nightmarish vision of America's anti-Semitic fury roaring...up our...
Roth tweaks 1940s history, imagining how his native USA might have been if Roosevelt had lost the presidential elections to Lindbergh- the aviator, who was also anti-Semitic and... Read more
Published 11 months ago by sally tarbox
4.0 out of 5 stars
Roth's Compellingly Twisted Tale
Philip Roth's 2004 novel The Plot Against America is a brilliantly clever tale of US life around the onset of the 2nd World War, but (fictionally) twisted such that (real-life)... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Keith M
3.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant Premise, Flawed Execution.
'The Plot Against America' is at once compelling and maddening. Roth seems unsure whether he's writing an alternative history novel, or an alternative history textbook. Read more
Published 15 months ago by English Teacher
5.0 out of 5 stars
Roth's 1940's America: A Short Step from Fascism and Despair
It is an oft-stated cliché that many families are but one or two paychecks away from poverty. Philip Roth's "The Plot Against America" suggests that perhaps U.S. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Leonard Fleisig
3.0 out of 5 stars
Fiction - faction
The underlying story - the post-Roosevelt Presidency of Lindberg with his isolationist keep America out of the war, generally pro-German, and specifically anti-Jewish policies in... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Dr Greville Rumble
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