Book Review: "The Plot Against America"

Warning: Plot Spoilers Below

I just recently got done reading (or more acccurately, listening to) "The Plot Against America", by Philip Roth. From my understanding Roth is one of the acclaimed American writers of modern fiction, who received praise in particular for his book "The Human Stain." I say my understanding as I haven't read that book, or any other book by Roth. As a matter of fact, I picked this one up only because it had something to do with World War II and Nazis, a period of history that I particularly enjoy studying, and because I'd heard good things about it. And I'm very glad I did so, as I think Roth has written a highly believable, compelling portrait of a United States that falls under the spell of President Charles Lindbergh, an American hero of aviation and avowed anti-Semite.

I don't usually read the genre of "alternative history". Unfairly or not, I think the genre is dominated by a "How neat would it be if this happened?" approach, as typified by the ultimate alternative history writer Harry Turtledove. But Roth has crafted a highly convincing portrait of a world that never existed, a world he lends credence to by placing his boyhood self in the very center of the story as the main character. Reading about Roth's childhood it's impossible not to imagine that he took much of what actually did happen to him as a boy, and weave into that story a larger story of an alternate America that never existed, but seems no less real by the comparison.

Essentially the story follows young Philip Roth through several years of his life, dominated by the ouster of FDR from office by Charles Lindbergh, until Lindbergh's mysterious disappearance and the restoration of FDR to the presidency. Though Roth teases us with the title of his book, he's never so straight-forward as to tell us bluntly whether the "plot against America" as it's revealed near the end of the book is in fact true or not. But the evidence is so compelling that this comes off as no more than a writer's trick; by the end of the book we believe with certainty that Lindbergh's presidency was in fact a secret plot crafted by the Nazis to engineer the downfall of American democracy.

The book is split into various perspectives. We have young Philip's perspective on his boyhood life where the goings-on of the world around him are irrelevant, Philip's perspective of his life that is dominated by such events, and Philip as the dispassionate narrator who reveals for the reader historical and political details that young Philip almost certainly would not have been aware of. What gives the story such believability is that it's told from the perspective of a young boy, not from the perspective of the great men of the book such as Lindbergh, FDR, Walter Winchell and so on. Philip-except in his guise as the narrator-comments on everything through the eyes of boyhood. In fact, it is what makes the rise of Lindbergh and blatant anti-semitism in America seem so menacing, for we see very directly how it effects Philip and his family in very personal ways.

Though Roth gives us believable alternative vision of American in the 1940's, he takes liberty not only with what did happen, but what could have happened. You may read the book and find yourself thinking a few times "Could that really have happened here?" But Roth can take such liberties because he's careful to craft the story of young Philip in a way that is every bit believable; so much so that it's hard to imagine that Roth didn't experience these events growing up.

As you read the story it's clear that Roth has a larger point to make about people and their willingness to fall under the sway of "great" men, and their willingness to sell a little not only of their freedom, but their national spirit, to avoid war. Anti-semitism is also at the core of the book. We hear of how it rears it's ugly head in everday encounters between Philip's family, and to me Roth communicates the isolation of American jews in persuasive fashion, depicting Philip's Jewish neighborhood as a small island in a vast, alien, Christian culture.

Unlike with some reviewers, "Plot" does not evoke in me comparisons to 9/11. I'm not sure if Roth is making a larger point about 9/11 or not; rather, I don't see the comparison myself. Nor do I think it's necessary. Nor am I sure that Roth has anything to say about current war-time America. Rather, he seems to be discussing a more basic motivation of people the world over; the desire to live safely and at peace and the willingness to give up some freedom and to do so, and the persavive, cancerous effect of anti-Semitism brought into the open. And no less does he lecture us through his novel on the danger of demagogues who play on our fears and our hatreds, and our willingness to be fooled by them so long as the negative consequences of our self-willed deception can be delayed indefinately or forever, or so long as those consequences can be felt by someone else.

Overall I found this to be a thoroughly enjoyable book. Pick it up and read it, and feel free to let me know what you think.