Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Focus | 1945 | Arthur Miller | Buy |
Focus is Arthur Miller’s only novel, published in 1945 before he achieved fame as a playwright. The story follows Lawrence Newman, a personnel manager in New York who gets new eyeglasses and finds that people start assuming he is Jewish. The novel uses this premise to explore antisemitism, conformity, and moral cowardice in wartime America.
The book was published the same year World War II ended, and its treatment of American antisemitism was timely and provocative. While Miller is remembered primarily for his plays, Focus shows that his interest in American moral failures was present from the start of his career.