Our Gang (1971) is Philip Roth's fifth novel. A marked departure from his previous book, the extremely popular Portnoy's Complaint, Our Gang is a highly comic political satire written in the form of a play. Centered around the character of "Trick E. Dixon," a blatant caricature of then-President Richard Nixon, the book takes its cue from a real quote by Nixon: Jump to: navigation, search 1971 is a common year starting on Friday (click for link to calendar). ... Philip Milton Roth (born March 19, 1933) is a Jewish-American novelist who is best known for his sexually-explicit comedic novel Portnoys Complaint (1969) and for his late-90s trilogy comprising the Pulitzer Prize-winning American Pastoral (1997), I Married a Communist (1998), and The Human Stain (2000). ... Jump to: navigation, search Portnoys Complaint book cover Portnoys Complaint (1969) is American writer Philip Roths fourth and, to date, still most popular novel, with many of its characteristics (ribald, comedic prose; themes of sexual desire and sexual frustration; a self-conscious literariness) having gone on to... Jump to: navigation, search Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the thirty-seventh President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. ...

"FROM PERSONAL AND RELIGIOUS BELIEFS I CONSIDER ABORTIONS AN UNACCEPTABLE FORM OF POPULATION CONTROL. FURTHERMORE, UNRESTRICTED ABORTION POLICIES, OR ABORTION ON DEMAND, I CANNOT SQUARE WITH MY PERSONAL BELIEF IN THE SANCTITY OF HUMAN LIFE--INCLUDING THE LIFE OF THE YET UNBORN. FOR, SURELY, THE UNBORN HAVE RIGHTS ALSO, RECOGNIZED IN LAW, RECOGNIZED EVEN IN PRINCIPLES EXPOUNDED BY THE UNITED NATIONS."

From this seemingly benign starting point, Roth constructs a vicious satire of Nixon and his cabinet--particularly Henry Kissinger and Spiro Agnew--as "Tricky" tries to deny that he supports sexual intercourse, provoking a group of Boy Scouts to riot in Washington D.C. Tricky tries to pin the blame on baseball player Curt Flood and the nation of Denmark, but is eventually assasinated by being drowned in a giant baggie filled with water. Tricky ends the novel in Hell, campaigning against Satan for the position of Devil. Jump to: navigation, search Henry Kissinger Dr. Henry Alfred Kissinger (born May 27, 1923 as Heinz Alfred Kissinger) is a German-born American diplomat and statesman. ... Jump to: navigation, search Spiro Theodore Agnew, born Spiros Anagnostopoulos (November 9, 1918 – September 17, 1996) in Towson, Maryland, was the thirty-ninth Vice President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1973 under President Richard M. Nixon. ... Curt Flood (January 18, 1938–January 20, 1997) was an American center fielder in Major League Baseball. ...