THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA - Rare Fine Copy of The First Hardcover Edition/First Printing

Roth, Philip

ISBN 10: 0618509283 / ISBN 13: 9780618509287

Published by New York City, NY: Houghton Mifflin, 2004, 2004

About this Item

1st Printing. 391 pages. Published in 2004. The author's twenty-second novel. One of the greatest novels of our time. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Philip Roth's "The Plot Against America". His counter-factual historical novel. Explores a brilliantly imagined scenario of mass fear and takes it to its logical conclusion. So here goes: Charles A. Lindbergh defeats FDR for the Presidency in 1940. Lindbergh captured the country's imagination twice: Through his solo Atlantic crossing in 1927 and the tragic kidnapping and murder of his son. He was the prototypical American hero: Brave, handsome, a "role model". He was also an isolationist, a Nazi sympathizer, and a Fascist. It is these latter attributes that inform the novel. "Roth interweaves historical names such as Walter Winchell, who tries to run against Lindbergh. The twist at the end is more than surprising, it is positively ingenious. Roth has written a magnificent novel, arguably his best work in a long time. It is tempting to equate his scenario with current events, but resist, resist. Of course it is a cautionary tale, but beyond that, it is a contribution to American letters by a man working at the top of his powers" (Valerie Ryan). In his maturity and after a lifetime of brilliant and prolific writing, Roth has pulled off the unthinkable: Another masterpiece. An absolute "must-have" title for Philip Roth collectors. This title is a great book. This is one of few copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are in multiple subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare copy thus. Six of Philip Roth's novels were selected as among the Top 20 works of American fiction of the last 25 years: "American Pastoral", "The Counterlife", "Operation Shylock", "Sabbath's Theater", "The Human Stain", and "The Plot Against America". One of the greatest writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER PHILIP ROTH TITLES IN OUR CATALOG) ISBN 0618509283.

Seller Inventory # 23569

Bibliographic Details

• Title: THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA - Rare Fine Copy of The First Hardcover Edition/First Printing
• Publisher: New York City, NY: Houghton Mifflin, 2004
• Publication Date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0618509283
• ISBN 13: 9780618509287
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition.
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
• Signed: no

About this title

Synopsis

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 virulent anti-Semitic policies he appeared to accept without difficulty. What then 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.

About the Author

In 1997 Philip Roth (1933-2018) won the Pulitzer Prize for American Pastoral. In 1998 he received the National Medal of Arts at the White House and in 2002 the highest award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Gold Medal in Fiction, previously awarded to John Dos Passos, William Faulkner and Saul Bellow, among others. He twice won the National Book Award, the PEN/Faulkner Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. In 2005 The Plot Against America received the Society of American Historians’ prize for "the outstanding historical novel on an American theme for 2003-2004" and the W.H. Smith Award for the Best Book of the Year, making Roth the first writer in the forty-six-year history of the prize to win it twice.

In 2005 Roth became the third living American writer to have his works published in a comprehensive, definitive edition by the Library of America. In 2011 he received the National Humanities Medal at the White House, and was later named the fourth recipient of the Man Booker International Prize. In 2012 he won Spain’s highest honor, the Prince of Asturias Award, and in 2013 he received France’s highest honor, Commander of the Legion of Honor.