The second novel of Roth's eloquent American trilogy set in the tempestuous McCarthy era - a
brilliant successor to American Pastoral I Married a Communist charts the rise and fall of
Ira Ringold an American roughneck who begins life as a ditchdigger in 1930s New Jersey
becoming a big-time radio hotshot in the 1940s. In his heyday as a star - and as a zealous
bullying supporter of 'progressive' political causes - Ira marries Hollywood's beloved leading
lady Eve Frame. Their glamorous honeymoon is short-lived however and it is the publication
of Eve's scandalous bestselling expose that identifies Ira as 'an American taking his orders
from Moscow'. In this story of cruelty betrayal and savage revenge anti-Communist fever
pollutes national politics and infects the relationships of ordinary Americans friends become
deadly enemies parents and children tragically estranged lovers blacklisted and felled from
vertiginous heights. 'Quintessential Philip Roth' Sunday Telegraph
