Hardcover, 723 pages
English language
Published Nov. 10, 2005 by Thorndike Press.
When the renowned aviation hero and rabid isolationist Charles A. Lindbergh defeated FDR 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. (back cover)
I was enthralled by this chilling tale until the last two chapters. I didn’t like that the story essentially made this alternate timeline converge back with our own. I was much more interested in seeing the longer term ramifications of this excellent scenario. Alas, it ended with a whimper for me.
