HBO's latest ripped-from-the-headlines endeavor is an adaptation of Philip Roth's stellar novel "The Plot Against America."
This work envisions Charles Lindbergh riding a wave of popular fanfare, anti-war sentiment, and dog-whistle anti-Semitism to wrest the Presidency from FDR. The story unfolds from the perspective of a young boy cocooned within his larger Jewish family, as they struggle with decisions about whose country this is, where they belong, and how to spark awareness of duplicity among the hordes.
"Though on the morning after the election disbelief prevailed, especially among the pollsters, by the day after that everybody seemed to understand everything, and the radio commentators and the news columnists made it sound as if Roosevelt's defeat had been preordained."
Just two episodes in, the HBO version is capturing the building intensity in a very real way, thanks to the efforts of executive producer David Simon, the genius behind such series as "The Wire" and "Treme."
In uncertain times when, according to one poll, only 37% of people actually believe actual words that the actual President is actually saying, "The Plot Against America" serves as both beacon and omen to our current state.
"How could I not be confused, when our disgrace and our glory were one and the same? Something essential had been destroyed and lost, and we were being coerced to be other than the Americans we were ..."
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