"When the renowned aviation hero and rabid isolationist Charles A. Lindbergh defeated Franklin Roosevelt by a landslide in the 1940 presidential election, fear invaded every Jewish household in America. Not only had Lindbergh, in a nationwide radio address, publicly blamed the Jews for selfishly pushing America toward a pointless war with Nazi Germany, but, upon taking office as the thirty-third president of the United States, he negotiated a cordial "understanding" with Adolf Hitler, whose conquest of Europe and whose virulent anti-Semitic policies he appeared to accept without difficulty. What followed in America is the historical setting for this startling new book by Pulitzer Prize winner Philip Roth, who recounts what it was like for his Newark family--and for a million such families all over the country--during the menacing years of the Lindbergh presidency, when American citizens who happened to be Jews had every reason to expect the worst." --Dust cover flap.
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Publisher:
Boston : Houghton Mifflin Co., 2004.
ISBN:
9781400079490
9780618509287
0618509283
9780618509287
0618509283
Call Number:
ROTH
Characteristics:
391 p. ; 24 cm
Subjects:
Lindbergh, Charles A. 1902-1974 -- Fiction.
Historical fiction.
Newark (N.Y.) -- Fiction.
Antisemitism -- Fiction.
Jewish families -- Fiction.
Jews -- United States -- Fiction.
Presidents -- Election -- Fiction.
Presidents -- United States -- Fiction.
Historical fiction.
Newark (N.Y.) -- Fiction.
Antisemitism -- Fiction.
Jewish families -- Fiction.
Jews -- United States -- Fiction.
Presidents -- Election -- Fiction.
Presidents -- United States -- Fiction.
Comment
Add a CommentAllegories to the Bush Administration were used when this book was written. A quaint accusation compared to the current president.
I came back to this book when Trump was elected and am horrified at the similarities between a fictional Lindbergh administration and the Trump abomination we're now living.
Substitute Russia for Germany and I defy anyone not see Trump and Pence as the fascists wrapped in religion and cloaked around the American flag.
This book is prescient in the birth of Trump the President and how quickly the slippery slope turns into a dictatorship. A truly terrifying book.
Interesting parallels between what might have happened under Lindburg & what DID happen under Roosevelt.
At times I couldn't tell where this book was going and kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. Despite that feeling, I enjoyed the sidewinding nature of the descriptions of life of the main character. After finishing the book, I realized I'm thinking about it more now than I did when it was in my hands. It left me with a lingering eerie feeling, which is a good thing.
I mentioned this book as part of an ongoing review series called "Literary Counterparts."
http://www.stevenarntson.com/2012/04/literary-counterparts-doubleroth.html