American Pastoral is the story of a fortunate Americans rise and fallof a strong, confident master of social equilibrium overwhelmed by the forces of social disorder. Seymour Swede Levova legendary high school athlete, a devoted family man, a hard worker, the prosperous inheritor of his fathers Newark glove factorycomes of age in thriving, triumphant postwar America. But everything he loves is lost when the country begins to run amok in the turbulent 1960s. Not even the most private, well-intentioned citizen, it seems, gets to sidestep the sweep of history. With vigorous realism, Roth takes us back to the conflicts and violent transitions of the 1960s. This is a book about lovingand hatingAmerica. Its a book about wanting to belongand refusing to belongto America. It sets the desire for an American pastorala respectable life of space, calm, order, optimism, and achievementagainst the indigenous American Berserk.
