Thursday, August 9, 2018

Top ten novels about riots

A.G. Lombardo is the author of Graffiti Palace: A Novel.

One of his ten favorite novels about riots and rebellion, as shared at the Guardian:
The Plot Against America by Philip Roth

Roth’s alternate history speaks to today’s intolerance. In 1940, aviation hero (and antisemite) Charles Lindbergh joins the America First party (sound familiar?). He becomes the surprise celebrity Republican candidate for president. Wildly popular in the midwest and south, he’s elected. Young Philip’s Jewish family is torn apart under the new regime. Jewish boys are shipped to southern farms to be “Americanized”. Entire Jewish families are relocated. Riots and resistance tear lives apart. Personal and public, the Roth family’s story is America’s.
Read about the other entries on the list.

The Plot Against America is on Tara Sonin's lits of twenty-five notable fictional presidents, James Miller's top ten list of conspiracy theories in fiction, Jeff Somers's six best list of insane presidents, D.J. Taylor's top ten list of counter-factual novelsKatharine Trendacosta and Charlie Jane Anders's top ten list of epic power struggles, Steven Amsterdam's list of five top books on worry, Stephen L. Carter's list of five top presidential thrillers, and David Daw's list of five American presidents in alternate history.

--Marshal Zeringue