Description

‘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?
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‘Many passages in The Plot Against America echo feelings voiced today by vulnerable Americans – immigrants and minorities as alarmed by Trump’s election as the Jews of Newark are frightened by Lindbergh’s’ New Yorker

**ONE OF THE GUARDIAN’S 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21st CENTURY**

Publisher Review

It's one of the great political novels for its depiction of how alterations in power affect ordinary men and women, and how obedience brings disaster. -- Linda Grant * New Statesman * In his 2004 novel, The Plot Against America, Roth precisely described the sinister and chilling nightmare in which the United States now finds itself... America has not read enough of Philip Roth -- Bernard-Henri Levy * New Statesman * A dark, humane masterpiece, Roth is at the peak of his powers * The Times * Another frighteningly intense performance * Sunday Telegraph * The word genius doesn't seem excessive... The Plot Against America creates its reality magisterially, in long, fluid sentences that carry you beyond scepticism * Guardian * Untouchable...he is bequeathing us a body of work that adds up to the most accomplished dissection of American political, social and personal mores * Observer * Magnificent. Roth is writing the best books of his life. 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 * Subtle, persuasive and unsettling. A brilliantly troubling and heartening novel * Sunday Times * Many passages in The Plot Against America echo feelings voiced today by vulnerable Americans - immigrants and minorities as alarmed by Trump's election as the Jews of Newark are frightened by Lindbergh's * New Yorker * Dazzling. The most exciting novelist writing today * Independent on Sunday * The novel is full of his usual furious cackling; tragedy tipping into comedy and comedy into tragedy within the space of a few sentences. The prose is beautiful * Mail on Sunday * A sensation * Sunday Times * A polemical classic * Esquire * Brilliant * Metro * One of the best writers of dialogue in the history of inverted commas * The Times * A reverberating celebration of family, community and humanity * Sunday Times *