The second novel of Roths 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 Hollywoods beloved leading lady Eve Frame. Their glamorous honeymoon is short-lived however and it is the publication of Eves 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