American fascism

This weekend, I stayed up just about all night to finish Phillip Roth's latest. If you don't know, it's a historical novel about what might have happened had Charles Lindburgh defeated Roosevelt on an isolationist Republican ticket with anti-semitic overtones. What does happen? Pogroms, martial law, and war with Canada, for starters.

The easiest way to dismiss Roth's it-could-happen-here scenario is to complain that he has slandered the historical figures in the book, principally Lindy. He pre-empts this argument somewhat with appendices that are supposed to help draw a clear line between fact and fiction (intriguing material in their own right, but I'm kind of disappointed they're there at the same time. Why not leave us guessing?). My judgement, biased of course, is that he wasn't necessarily unfair to Lindburgh, especially because the character in the book functions almost more as a symbol than anything else.

The book has a lot to say about cults of personality, and especially about the banality of evil. Like the appendices, the conclusion is a bit disappointing in that it seems that Hitler was behind the scenes all along, pulling the strings. What was most gripping about the book was how quickly and completely ordinary people let anti-semitism and fascism consume them and direct the mundane habits of their lives; what was most moving was the courage of ordinary people who resisted in some way. To have an evil kingpin who's actually controlling it all is a bit of a deus ex machina that lets "America" off the hook. On the other hand, the Hitler conspiracy is presented as a possibile explanation for what happens, not the definitive conclusion, and anyway, what could be more American than a good conspiracy theory?

If the image of a president gaining mass approval for flying his own fighter plane chills you and you don't know why, or if the thought of emigrating to Canada has crossed your mind, read this book. Read it anyway.