The Plot Against America (Vintage International)

by Philip Roth

'He captures better than anyone the collision of public and private, the intrusion of history into the skin, the pores of every individual alive' Guardian

'Though on the morning after the election disbelief prevailed, especially among the pollsters, by the next everybody seemed to understand everything...'

When celebrity aviator, Charles A. Lindbergh, wins the 1940 presidential election on the slogan of 'America First', fear invades every Jewish household. Not only has Lindbergh blamed the Jews for pushing America towards war with Germany, he has negotiated an 'understanding' with the Nazis promising peace between the two nations.

Growing up in the 'ghetto' of Newark, Philip Roth recounts his childhood caught in the stranglehold of this counterfactual nightmare. As America sinks into its own dark metamorphosis and Jewish families are torn apart, fear and uncertainty spread.

Who really is President Lindbergh?

And to what end has he hijacked America?

**ONE OF THE GUARDIAN'S 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY**

• ISBN10: 1529110815
• ISBN13: 9781529110814
• Publish Date: 1 November 2018 (first published 1 January 2004)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 20 January 2022
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Vintage
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[ibeforem]

As soon as you find out that the main character in this book is Philip Roth, a boy growing up in the same place and the same time as the author Roth, this book takes on the feel of a memoir. Essentially, this book is not about the alternative world Roth has created by changing one election, but about how the Roth family lives and survives in this world. Much of it is seen through the eyes of 9 year old Philip, but as he would explain it years later, as an adult. The language and analysis of events is not that of a child’s.

The alternative history holds up pretty well, until the "bad days" begin. At that point in the book, the narrative starts to fall apart as you get a straight summary of events of the next 10 days. Is this by design? I’m not sure. I felt like it interrupted the flow of the story. I also felt like Roth cops out a bit at the end… I was expecting a story where Hitler wins and the world is forever changed. What you get instead is just a blip in the WWII timeline… a delay of the events that really happened.

Overall, it was a good read and I’m glad I read it, despite the concentration it took to get through some of Roth’s run-on sentences. Would I read another by him? Based on the writing style alone, no, but if the story interested me I’d pick it up regardless.