The Plot Against America (Paperback)

Philip Roth (author)

£8.99

Paperback 400 Pages / Published: 06/10/2005

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Synopsis Author

...the unfolding of the unforeseen was everything. Turned wrong way round, the relentless unforeseen was what we schoolchildren studied as 'History', harmless history, where everything unexpected in its own time is chronicled on the page as inevitable. The terror of the unforeseen is what the science of history hides, turning a disaster into an epic.

When the renowned aviation hero and rabid isolationist Charles A. Lindbergh defeated Franklin Roosevelt by a landslide inthe1940 presidential election, fear invaded every Jewish household in America. Not only had Lindbergh publicly blamed the Jews for 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.

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 during the menacing years of the Lindbergh presidency, when American citizens who happened to be Jews had every reason to expect the worst.

'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

Publisher: Vintage Publishing
ISBN: 9780099478560
Number of pages: 400
Weight: 277 g
Dimensions: 198 x 129 x 25 mm

MEDIA REVIEWS

"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 *

Philip Roth

A giant of twentieth-century American literature, Philip Roth is best known for his acerbic, darkly comedic writing which tackles weighty ideas about American society, masculinity and Jewish identity. Both acclaimed and often controversial, his best-known works include Portnoy’s Complaint, the Zuckerman Bound series, American Pastoral, The Human Stain and the alternative history novel The Plot Against America.

Visit the Philip Roth author page