Despite the cast of larger-than-life historical characters in Philip Roth's powerful new novel, the heroes are members of an ordinary American family.

	"THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA" By Philip Roth Houghton Mifflin ($26) Related coverage Author Roth answers for his vision

They are the Roths, Herman and Bess and sons Sandy and Philip of Newark, N.J.

Philip, 7 when the book opens, is a boy much like the author but living in a fictional America that barely resembles the pleasant, comforting land of a nostalgic 1940s childhood.

"Fear presides over these memories, a perpetual fear," the novel begins.

"Of course no childhood is without its terrors, yet I wonder if I would have been a less frightened boy if Lindbergh hadn't been president or if I hadn't been the offspring of Jews."

Defeating Franklin Roosevelt in 1940, the hero aviator Charles Lindbergh has kept the nation neutral in World War II, befriended Nazi Germany and set in motion an all-American pogrom against the Jews.

Back in Newark, the Roths were a close-knit family proud of their country and Roosevelt and secure in their friendly, Jewish neighborhood.

"I pledged allegiance to the flag of our homeland every morning at school," remembers Philip. "I sang of its marvels with my classmates at assembly programs. I eagerly observed its national holidays. ... Our homeland was America."

After the election, the lives of the Roths and other Jews begin to change. Along with entertaining Nazis at the White House, President Lindbergh instigates programs to disperse Jews around the country, diluting their political clout and exposing them to even more bigotry and eventually violence.

It's a terrifying vision, the destruction of an American way of life that was built on the promise of "life, liberty and justice for all."

Roth adds a bizarre twist to the story: Gossip columnist Walter Winchell, an outspoken foe of Lindbergh in real life, is assassinated running for president, touching off anti-Jewish riots around the country.

Somehow, throughout it all, the Roth family survives and Philip learns the meaning of compassion and loyalty as he is forced to care for others whose lives have been damaged by the climate of fear.

Although much of this novel is really an affectionate picture of urban Jewish society on the eve of World War II, its ability to capture uneasiness and creeping paranoia is brilliant and disturbing.

Roth's Lindbergh is a man of few words and no compassion. Following a rash of deadly riots, he can only say, "Our country's at peace. Our people are at work. Our children are in school. ... Now I'm going back to Washington to keep things that way."

Lindbergh's uncomplicated view of America is little comfort to its Jews and other minority citizens.

Roth's enduring theme has been the struggle of Jews to become full-fledged Americans, and that battle has taken its toll on the lives and souls of his characters.

This time, however, his creations bend but do not break. The Roths emerge from terror stronger and closer. At its heart, his novel is a family story.

All is not optimistic, though. Roth believes that there are dark forces lurking below the surface of our democracy, and all it takes is one misguided leader in a time of peril to call them forth.