Understanding Philip Roth /

What to make of writers who cast big shadows in both popular and literary culture, especially when the nature of their subjects and concerns grates against current enlightened attitudes? Roth (1933--2018) is one of those writers--if one is to judge by the spate of recent scholarly/critical books that weigh the arguments. Understanding Philip Roth arrives just in time and in usefully succinct form to help readers consider Roth and his oeuvre as he/it appear within their many significant contexts. Shipe (Washington Univ., St. Louis) applies the tools of conventional literary scholarship to what can only have been a monumental task, and does so in very accessible, clear prose. Endnotes provide both substantiation and material for further scholarly research. Without hammering at his thesis, Shipe makes a compelling case for why and how Roth was, is, and will be relevant in American literary, cultural, and political discussions--even connecting as "prophetic" Roth's treatment of American turbulence in his own lifetime to the turmoil of the Trump years as it continues to batter national life in the US. What might Roth have written of the Trump years had he survived them? Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty. --James A. Zoller, emeritus, Houghton College