In 1940, the beloved American icon Charles Lindbergh, decorated by Herman Göring and chummy with anti-Semitic propagandist Henry Ford, gave a series of lectures arguing that America maintain an isolationist position in the European war. He goes on about the “dilution of blood” and the small minority with too much control in the inner workings of government. He is then approached by a few members of the Republican party to consider a run for the US presidency. He demurs and continues making speeches until Pearl Harbor. That is all true. Philip Roth asks the question, what if Lindbergh said “yes, I will run.”
Roth then presents an alternative version of his own childhood. This is particularly of interest to any Roth enthusiast, as the facts of his childhood have been making their way, one way or another, into most of his other books.
This is an epic book, absolutely fascinating on many levels. What impressed me was watching the inevitable outcome arrive incrementally, and sometimes relying on happy accidents. One can’t help making equations to our current political system, going back in your mind through the stages of how we wound up in this current ridiculous situation. How insane did it first sound, in the middle of a pursuit of bin Laden, when Dick Cheney first started mumbling on “Meet the Press” about Saddam Hussein? Roth’s book also captures the frustration of recognizing your country turning to evil and not knowing what the hell to do about it other than scream at the radio.
The wonderful twist about this book, of course, is that Lindbergh’s embrace of fascism, unlike Bush’s, is through pacifism. That’s just there to fuck with you.
