American Pastoral

Summary

Roth's recurring alter ego Nathan Zuckerman narrates the life of Seymour "Swede" Levov, a star high school athlete and successful Newark glove manufacturer whose ordered suburban world detonates when his teenage daughter commits an act of political violence during the Vietnam era. Roth uses the Swede's downfall to interrogate assimilation, postwar prosperity, and the upheavals of the 1960s. The book is a central work of his late career engagement with American history.