The greatest American novel since 9/11 &/or the war in Iraq (captivating the mindset of the American people)?

Question

Novels are indeed fiction, and that was the question... so far, only the fourth answer is along those lines.. thank you for your recommendations, though.

Answer 1

Foer is ok - but I don't think he's correct when he compares 9/11 with the bombing of Dresden - he thus implys that all wars are wrong - the war against the Nazis definetely wasn't. He describes the protagonist's grandmother as someone who's lost everything - but many were able to survive exactly because of those bombings + the world got rid of the cruelest dictator that ever existed. The longer the war lasted the more people died in the concentration camps, in the occupied countries, etc.. I do not think that anybody in the US survived because some terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center.
Paradoxically, I think that Philip Roth's The Plot Against America comes closer to 'captivating the mindset' in post 9/11 America although his story is set in a (ficticious) America in the 1940s: a sad but yet strangely optimistic view on intolerance, fear, suppression in an America that has experienced another catastrophe.
http://www.amazon.com/Plot-Against-America-Vintage-International/dp/1400079497/sr=8-1/qid=1160783710/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-6916743-7880954?ie=UTF8
Not an American novel but I think up to date the most thoughtful, intelligent, and emphatic novel about a Western post 9/11 society (England) is Ian McEwan's Saturday: http://www.amazon.com/Saturday-Ian-Mcewan/dp/1400076196/sr=1-3/qid=1160784068/ref=sr_1_3/102-6916743-7880954?ie=UTF8&s=books
Literature on a very high level - highly recommendable!

Answer 2

I can't really answer your question, but I did want to say that none of the books listed by roger and vick are novels. All of those books are non-fiction. Novels are fiction, that is, stories that someone has made up. In the case of some historical novels, there may be real events and real people in the story, but some actions and dialog have been invented.

I have heard that it is common for younger people nowadays to call any book a "novel," but that is simply incorrect, not to mention confusing. I don't know if that was the case in your question, but roger and vick answered as if it were.

Answer 3

The book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is a great novel and the best book I have read in a while. It is a child's perception of September 11th and the death of his father. Its style is very unique. It is written by Jonathan Safran Foer who wrote the book Everything is Illuminated another amazing novel I would also recommend. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is very captivating and heartwarming and definitely in my opinion the best book written since 9/11.

Answer 4

Wisdom of Our Fathers by Tim Russert

Answer 5

it might be this book by bob woodward or also richard clark i believe has a book out which is very famous. also there's a book called "the greatest story ever sold" or something like that, im not too sure about the title though.

Good luck