A Quick Reading Report - "The Plot Against America," a Novel by Philip Roth

For Christmas, I received a copy of Philip Roth's latest novel. From his early days of giving us Goodbye Columbus and Portnoy's Complaint, to his more recent offerings American Pastoral and The Human Stain, Roth has remained a compelling and critically acclaimed American novelist. When I first heard of the book's plot, I was skeptical: America is led by a Nazo-sympathizing President Charles Linbergh after a landslide defeat of FDR in the 1940 election.

I have just finished reading the book, and came away feeling as if my time had been well spent.

I was born a few years after the action of the book, but I remember vividly my parents recounting tales of the state of the country just before and during WWII. Roth presents a plausible scenario that cleverly lays a fictional plot atop a realistic substrate of historical fact.

I recommend The Plot Against America.

Al