With his U.S.A. trilogy, comprising THE 42nd PARALLEL, 1919, and THE BIG MONEY, John Dos Passos is said by many to have written the great American novel. While Fitzgerald and Hemingway were cultivating what Edmund Wilson once called their "own little corners," John Dos Passos was taking on the world. Counted as one of the best novels of the twentieth century by the Modern Library and by some of the finest writers working today, U.S.A. is a grand, kaleidoscopic portrait of a nation, buzzing with history and life on every ...
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With his U.S.A. trilogy, comprising THE 42nd PARALLEL, 1919, and THE BIG MONEY, John Dos Passos is said by many to have written the great American novel. While Fitzgerald and Hemingway were cultivating what Edmund Wilson once called their "own little corners," John Dos Passos was taking on the world. Counted as one of the best novels of the twentieth century by the Modern Library and by some of the finest writers working today, U.S.A. is a grand, kaleidoscopic portrait of a nation, buzzing with history and life on every page. The trilogy opens with THE 42nd PARALLEL, where we find a young country at the dawn of the twentieth century. Slowly, in stories artfully spliced together, the lives and fortunes of five characters unfold. Mac, Janey, Eleanor, Ward, and Charley are caught on the storm track of this parallel and blown New Yorkward. As their lives cross and double back again, the likes of Eugene Debs, Thomas Edison, and Andrew Carnegie make cameo appearances.
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Anyone interested in how we got to where are now in our country should read the USA triology for a lesson in how far we have fallen backwards. This triology chronical the turn of the 20th century thru to Prohibiton era. The poetry, historical portraits all make for a good read. This should be required reading in every high school.
Seth05
May 3, 2007
Start here, read the trilogy
The first in Dos Passos's acclaimed USA trilogy gives accounts of many of the characters whose lives will be followed through 1919 and The Big Money. If you are looking for a book with an exciting plot, this may not be what you are looking for, but if you want to understand what life in the early part of the 20th century looked and felt like, these books are amazing.
