No writer captures anxiety, apprehension, fear, and hopelessness better than Roth. I cannot think of a happy or fulfilled character in a single one of his books so to read Roth is to experience a descent into discomfort. His characters are so believable, however, and his writing so captivating there is no turning away once you begin. Plot Against America is a perfect vehicle, a midrash, on what might have happened in the U.S. if American patriotic hero, vocal anti-Semite, and Nazi-sympathizer Charles Lindbergh had defeated Franklin Roosevelt at the outset of Germany’s European conquest. October 2009.