A review by wolfdan9
The Plot Against America by Philip Roth

4.5

Roth's patriotism is one of his lesser acknowledged qualities (he has three novels with the word "America" in the title), but it's best showcased in this novel, which is essentially a revisionist account of the months leading up to World War II, and in which the war is deferred by the election of Charles Lindbergh who is secretly working for Hitler and appeases him as he quickly annexes Europe. The interesting thing about the plot is that it's something nearly any aspiring writing could come up with. It's the kind of thing I feel like a precocious high school student could devise for a creative writing assignment. But of course, Roth masterfully weaves together the stories of a fictionalized Lindberg and a fictionalized version of himself as a child. Guiding Roth's pen is his ferocious need to expose the biases faced by Jewish people, which, while speculative here, are far less severe than the realities of World War II's concentration camps and pogroms. I found myself most impressed by Roth's ability to use historical facts and details, particularly about minor political figures like mayors, state senators, etc. to convincingly tell a story about our country being duped by a charismatic leader like Lindberg into becoming subservient to Hitler's Nazi Germany. Roth's clean, thoughtful, but approachable prose is like candy on the page. He writes so authentically to how we as people think without feeling the need to showcase pretentious writing technique. Roth uses the aforementioned historical facts to create a convincing world in which a charismatic populist can garner mass support and pull the wool over millions of citizens' eyes as global atrocities occur. Roth understands how effective rhetoric and propaganda can be but never portrays his characters, or the American people as a whole, as stupid. This has probably been noted many times since Trump's ascension, but there is a prescience about this novel considering the tactics used by Trump to achieve a similar (but far less devastating) cult of personality as Lindberg's. Even Lindberg's relationship with Hitler and his advisers is not unlike Trump's interactions with fascists like Putin and Jong-Un. But Roth's portrayal of himself and his family in suburban New Jersey, how they are affected by and nearly directly linked to the events of the Lindberg's presidency, are where he truly shines. This layer separating but simultaneously supporting the overall narrative between political and personal is what enables Roth to show the impact of Lindberg's presidency on the average dissenter. While Lindberg is hugely popular with the American public, his opponents are primarily Jews, who distrust his vision for America's role in international politics as they fear Hitler's Jew-hating dogma. It's quite clear that Roth's primary interest with writing this novel was to protect Jewish people by predicting -- before anything like the events in this novel could actually happen -- a reality where Jews became a political scapegoat in America. Roth creates completely plausible tactics that a Lindberg-like figure could utilize to weaken a vocal but socially oppressed minority, like a "diversity" program that sends Jewish children to rural Kentucky for an opportunity to learn from farmers, but actually is meant to divide and weaken Jewish families and communities (and this is successful, as Roth's brother becomes a farmhand who eventually ardently supports Lindberg and leads the entertaining family dynamics and drama). The most unfortunate character (other than probably cousin Alvin, who loses his leg fighting on Canada's side in the war against Hitler as a teenager, and who has his own interesting and character plot tied into the Roth's family's plight) is Roth's father, who most vitriolically opposes Lindberg, and is correct in his many fatherly outbursts of rage toward Lindberg's presidency and his supporters, but is doubted by family and friends who think he is paranoid. Roth's father predicts that there is a grander "scheme" (and is proved correct) but never doubts his love or loyalty to America (and is also proved correct that things will correct themselves when he does not flee to Canada). Watching his spirit's deterioration unfold, however, is a highlight of the novel as the reader sympathizes with him as the only person thinking logically about what's actually happening. Ultimately, I found this novel highly pleasurable to read and a convincing "what-if" scenario that points to the fragility of the average person's mind and our susceptibility to being duped and lied to. What happened in Germany and elsewhere could have also happened here.