The "Background" section says "Human Stain" is "the third of Roth's postwar novels that take on large social themes."  What war are we talking about here?  In standard usage, "postwar" is understood to mean after World War Two  in which case, ALL of his novels (large social theme, or not) are "postwar," given that Roth (born 1933) didn't begin publishing until the latter 1950s.  (If there are living writers who published "prewar" novels, they're thin above the ground now.)