The Plot Against America by Philip Roth - Historical Fiction Novel | Political Thriller & Alternate History | Perfect for Book Clubs & History Enthusiasts

Philip Roth continues to challenge us in his novels with pithy concepts (the classic 'Portnoy's Complaint', 'Goodbye Columbus', 'The Dying Animal', 'The Human Stain', 'American Pastoral' etc - about 25 in all) written with such acerbic verve, wit, and investigation that he keeps his readers questioning 'how much more can there be?'. In THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA, Roth appropriates facts from American history, and in doing so provides a new form of insight into the plight of the Jews at the time of World War II.To add credibility to his revised version of history he places his story in the household of the Roths - his own family, where he as Philip is the youngest member living in Newark, New Jersey, sensing the storms of being Jewish in America. Though his family is wholesome and thoroughly 'American', they are aware of the degrees of isolation: wealthy Jews appear miscegenated whereas middle class and lower class Jews are ghettoized.It is 1940 and FDR as President is deeply concerned about Hitler's encroaching activities in Europe and Japan's mirror image conquests in Asia and the pacific. Roosevelt is encouraging assisting Allied Forces to protect Russia, France, and England against the march of Nazis and Fascists. At the same time aviator hero Charles Lindbergh has captured the hearts of Americans not only with his flying feats but also with the famous tragedy of his son's kidnapping. Lindbergh (along with Henry Ford and others) has publicized connections with Hitler and is encouraging the United States, still shaken by the losses of WW I and the Great Depression, to stay our of Hitler's war in Europe - isolationism.It is at this point that Roth's postulate begins: by means of well-paced and documented incidents, Roth has Lindbergh defeat FDR and become the 33rd President of the US. Once in office Lindbergh develops alliances with Hitler, initiates means of anti-Semitic segregation with what appears to wiser Jews to be a means of eliminating American Jews much as Hitler is decimating European Jews. How the Roth family weathers this period of time and terror is the crux of this beautifully constructed, wholly credible novel.THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA is not solely about pogroms and 'What if it happened here': Roth uses this matrix to explore the bonds of family, of friendship, of ethnic individuality, of commitment, of tackling fear for survival at the personal level. Though we as the readers know how WW II ended, Roth convincingly introduces new variations to the equation and in doing so has created a suspenseful story that introduces characters whom we grow to love and others for whom we can acknowledge pity for paths inadvisedly taken. This is a story of history revisited from a different vantage, told through the lives of some of Roth's more unforgettable characters.Wisely at the end of the novel, Roth recapitulates sources, facts, the actual histories and outcomes of all the people he uses in THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA and in doing so provides a succinct and intelligent Coda that is refreshingly helpful in appreciating the 'novel' he has written. A worthy read!