HBO’s The Plot Against America: A Screening and Conversation

A sneak preview of David Simon’s chilling adaptation of the Philip Roth masterpiece that follows the plight of a working-class Jewish family after Charles Lindbergh wins the Presidency and turns the country toward isolationism, xenophobia, and fascism.

Simon and cast members will sit for a conversation after a screening of the first hour of the six-part miniseries, which premieres on March 16. The conversation will be moderated by NPR’s Peter Sagal.

Set in 1940s New Jersey, The Plot Against America imagines an alternate American history in which the aviation hero beats F.D.R., reaches a neutrality agreement with Hitler, and leads a government program of gradually escalating anti-Semitism. At the heart of the story are Bess and Herman Levin, two young parents grappling with what Roth called “the terror of the unforeseen” and striving to protect their sons from an increasingly hostile environment that threatens to rupture their family, their community and their country.