THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA by Philip Roth

Finished Su 3/22/20- The first book finished during the Coronavirus quarantine.

This is the third time that I've read this book. I bought the novel on Amazon- Fr 5/9/08, and read- We 11/22/10 and Sa 11/7/15. I guess I read this book every five years, and well worth the effort.

Charles A. Lindbergh beats FDR for the presidency as an 'America First' candidate. He successfully presented WWII as a 'Jewish war'. He becomes a 'social' ally of The Third Reich.

Philip Roth- 9 years old, stamp collection, naive and a 'good boy'.

Sandy- Philip's older brother by five years. An artist, then a 'ladies man'. For a time lives in Kentucky as a member of the government's 'American Office of Absorption'. He fully believes in Lindbergh however the program is designed to split up the Jewish communities across the nation.

Father- First of his family to have a white collar job. He works for Metropolitan Insurance. Rejects a promotion, then quits when he learns that he and his family would have to be relocated. He then works for his brother, 'Monty The Tomato King'.

Mother- Worked as an officer in the PTA and then a stay at home mother. Terrified of the times and probably would like to leave for Canada, but her husband is defiantly 'pro American'.

Alvin- The son of Philip's dead brother. The Roth's take him in and he is about nine years older than Philip. Philip idolizes Alvin. Had an opportunity to work for his uncle in the construction trade, but Alvin decides to fight the Nazi's and joins the army in Canada. Alvin loses his leg and comes back to Newark to live with the Roths.

Alvin's prosthesis is a big part of the novel. The false lower leg never fits correctly and Philip helps with the treatment of boils and sores on the stump.

He tries to fit in, but ends up working for a prominent New Jersey Jewish gangster. In the end of the novel Alvin and Philip's father get into a brutal altercation in the Roth's living room- Black eyes, sprains, and cuts.

Seldon- He is a boy that lives downstairs in the Roth's house. Halfway through the novel Seldon's father dies of throat cancer. Philip believes a rumour that the man committed suicide by hanging. He probably did not. Philip is frightened of the basement because of this.

Seldon's mother works for Metropolitan Insurance and is moved to Kentucky. During the rioting, she is killed and her car is burned. Roth's father and Sandy drive to get Seldon and bring him back to Newark.

The story ends after Seldon returns to Newark.



HIGHLIGHTS:

Trip to Washington DC. They are approached by a 'guide' who agrees to show them the city for nine dollars a day. This man might be an agent for the government. When it's learned that they are Jewish, they are kicked out of their rooms and forced to go to another hotel. Father still believes that the principles of American democracy will prevail.

The book's page at Amazon:

"In an extraordinary feat of narrative invention, Philip Roth imagines an alternate history where Franklin D. Roosevelt loses the 1940 presidential election to heroic aviator and rabid isolationist Charles A. Lindbergh. Shortly thereafter, Lindbergh negotiates a cordial "understanding" with Adolf Hitler, while the new government embarks on a program of folksy anti-Semitism.

For one boy growing up in Newark, Lindbergh's election is the first in a series of ruptures that threaten to destroy his small, safe corner of America-and with it, his mother, his father, and his older brother."



This is one of the first books that I wrote for the blog. Here is my entry:

"Mo 11/22/10 THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA by Philip Roth


THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA is a fictional account of a 'Possible History' of the United States. In this fictional universe, the author, Philip Roth depicts Charles Lindbergh beating FDR in the 1940 presidential election. Lindbergh runs as a 'Peace Candidate', and wins by signing a pact with Hitler to keep Americans out of, "Another European War". And, this scenario might have happened since there actually was a very dominant Isolationist and pro National Socialist movement in the US at that time, and Charles Lindbergh was an extremely popular proponent of this point of view. Roth's family lived in the Newark, New Jersey area during the 30's and 40's, and the book is really a beautiful and heartfelt account of how this 'Historical Possibility' would forever change their lives. There was not one point of view within the Hebrew community about Lindbergh's ascent to ultimate power. Many believed that National Socialism's anti-semitic policies could never take hold in The Land of The Free, whereas, many emigrated to Canada in fear of what might happen. After finishing the novel, it is impossible not to wonder what would happen if an international totalitarian movement were to manifest in 21st Century America. I think Fascism would receive a much more positive reception today than it did in the 1930's. Mussolini once said that, "Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." And, isn't this the goal of America's conservatives, and the agenda of Fox News? Of course, these days we blithely call it, "Business Friendly"."