In many ways, The Plot Against America stands out as an anomaly within Philip Roth's oeuvre, if not in substance, then at least in the degree to which he uses his various narrative devices. For instance, Roth has written alternate (or at least speculative) histories before, such as in The Ghost Writer (1979) or the story “ ‘I've Always Wanted You to Admire My Fasting'; or, Looking at Kafka” (1973), but never outside of the realm of a character's “imaginings”. He has taken on very contemporary political issues before–most notably his scathing rendering of Richard Nixon in Our Gang (1971)–but not without the distancing mask of satire. And perhaps most significantly, The Plot Against America is one of the few works of fiction to be narrated or focalized through the perspective of a young boy....
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Citation: Royal, Derek Parker. "The Plot Against America". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 December 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=16607, accessed 09 June 2026.]
