It is 1951 in America, the second year of the Korean War. A studious, law-
abiding, intense youngster from Newark, New Jersey, Marcus Messner is
beginning his sophomore year on the pastoral, conservative campus of Ohio's
Winesburg College. And why is he here and not at a local college in Newark
where he originally enrolled? Because his father, the sturdy, hardworking
neighbourhood butcher seems to have gone mad - mad with fear and
apprehension of the dangers of adult life, the dangers of the world, the
dangers he sees in the every corner for his beloved boy. So Marcus leaves
and, far from home, has to find his way amid the customs and constrictions
of another American world. Indignation is the story of a young man's
education in life's terrifying chances and bizarre obstructions. It is a
story of inexperience, foolishness, intellectual resistance, sexual
discovery, courage and error, told with all the inventive energy and with
Roth has at his command.