Promotional Information

'In his 2004 novel, The Plot Against America, Roth precisely described the sinister and chilling nightmare in which the United States now finds itself' Bernard-Henri Levy

About the Author

In 1997 Philip Roth won the Pulitzer Prize for American Pastoral. In 1998 he received the National Medal of Arts at the White House, and in 2002 the highest award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Gold Medal in Fiction, previously awarded to John Dos Passos, William Faulkner and Saul Bellow, among others. He has twice won the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award. He has won the PEN/Faulkner Award three times. In 2005 The Plot Against America received the Society of American Historians' Prize for 'the outstanding historical novel on an American theme for 2003-2004'. Recently Roth received PEN's two most prestigious prizes: in 2006 the PEN/Nabokov Award 'for a body of work ... of enduring originality and consummate craftsmanship' and in 2007 the PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction, given to a writer whose 'scale of achievement over a sustained career ... places him or her in the highest rank of American literature'. In 2011 Roth won the International Man Booker Prize. Roth is the only living American writer to have his work published in a comprehensive, definitive edition by the Library of America.

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.
*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
*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*

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 *

Asks a big "What if?"--what if America had stayed out of World War II and famed aviator Charles ("Lucky Lindy") Lindbergh, an isolationist and known Hitler admirer, had been elected President? In leading the nation, Lindbergh sets forth a wave of anti-Semitism that culminates in the creation of holding farms where Jews are herded for their own safety under the authority of the government's "Office of American Absorption." As a reimagining of the wrong men at the wrong time, Roth's take on alternative history is crafted with chilling plausibility. A novel of fear and fearful possibility that will stir book group debates. Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.

Adult/High School-When Charles Lindbergh, Republican candidate in the 1940 presidential race, defeats popular FDR in a landslide, pollsters scramble for explanations-among them that, to a country weary of crisis and fearful of becoming involved in another European war, the aviator represents "normalcy raised to heroic proportions." For the Roth family, however, the situation is anything but normal, and heroism has a different meaning. As the anti-Semitic new president cozies up to the Third Reich, right-wing activists throughout the nation seize the moment. Most citizens, enamored of isolationism and lost in hero worship, see no evil-but in the Roths' once secure and stable Jewish neighborhood in New Jersey, the world is descending into a nightmare of confusion, fear, and unpredictability. The young narrator, Phil, views the developing crisis through the lens of his family life and his own boyish concerns. His father, clinging tenaciously to his trust in America, loses his confidence painfully and incrementally. His mother tries to shield the children from her own growing fear. An aunt, brother, and cousin respond in different ways, and the family is divided. But though the situation is grim, this is not a despairing tale; suspenseful, poignant, and often humorous, it engages readers in many ways. It prompts them to consider the nature of history, present times, and possible futures, and can lead to good discussions among thoughtful readers and teachers. Bibliographic sources, notes on historical figures, and documentation are included.-Christine C. Menefee, Fairfax County Public Library, VA Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.