Most Popular Books by John Dos Passos

John Dos Passos''s Manhattan Transfer follows the overlapping lives of four principal characters in a sweeping multi-faceted tale set to the soundtrack of the booming, rhythmic pulse of New York City in the 1920s. Peopled with wealthy professionals, struggling immigrants, actors, cab drivers, chefs, and shopkeepers, a portrait of New York City bursts into view with all the force of the city itself. Through a narrative collage of descriptions, snatches of conversations, music, flashbacks, streams of consciousness, and shifting perspectives, Dos Passos vividly portrays the profits and perils of the American dream. Considered by many to be his greatest novel, Manhattan Transfer is a landmark work of modernist fiction and a masterpiece of American literature.

"Three Soldiers" is a novel written in 1921 by the American writer and critic John Dos Passos. It is one of the key American war novels of the First World War, and remains a classic of the realist war novel.

One Man''s Initiation-1917 by John Dos Passos provides a poignant exploration of a soldier''s experiences during World War I, offering a deeply personal and modernist perspective on the impact of war. The novel centers on the experiences of a young American soldier, exploring his initiation into the harsh realities of World War I. Through a modernist narrative style, Dos Passos delves into the psychological and emotional effects of combat on the protagonist, capturing the intense and often traumatic experiences of trench warfare. The novel also addresses anti-war themes, offering a critique of the glorification of military conflict and the social and political dynamics that drive war. Through the soldier''s story, Dos Passos presents a powerful social commentary on the futility and devastation of war, challenging conventional narratives and highlighting the human cost of conflict. One Man''s Initiation-1917 is a significant work in American literature, notable for its innovative narrative style and its exploration of war''s psychological and emotional toll. Dos Passos''s portrayal of the soldier''s experiences provides a profound and critical perspective on the impact of World War I, making it a compelling and thought-provoking read.

Beginning with the assassination of McKinley and ending with the defeat of the League of Nations by the United States Senate, the twenty-year period covered by John Dos Passos in this lucid and fascinating narrative changed the whole destiny of America. This is the story of the war we won and the peace we lost, told with a clear historical perspective and a warm interest in the remarkable people who guided the United States through one of the most crucial periods. Foremost in the cast of characters is Woodrow Wilson, the shy, brilliant, revered, and misunderstood “schoolmaster,” whose administration was a complex of apparent contradictions. Wilson had almost no interest in foreign affairs when he was first elected, yet later, in proposing the League of Nations, he was to play a major role in international politics. During his first summer in office, without any previous experience in banking, he pushed through the Federal Reserve Bank Act, perhaps his most lasting contribution. Reelected in 1916 on the rallying cry, “He kept us out of war,” he shortly found himself and his country inextricably involved in the European conflict. John Dos Passos has brilliantly coordinated the political, the military, and the economic themes so that the story line never falters. First published in 1962, Mr. Wilson’s War is one of the great books and an addition of major stature to any reader’s library

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.

The 42nd Parallel -- Nineteen nineteen -- The Big Money.

Despite sickness in the final years of his life, Dos Passos presses on for adventure. He and his wife journey to Easter Island, where they explore the history behind the famous statues—called maois. “When I was a small boy,” Dos Passos says, “some kind person took me to the British Museum. There I saw a statue, a huge, rough, dark-gray statue with [a] long, sad, dark-gray face. The statue stared back out of deep, sunken eyes. What was it trying to say? To this day I can remember the feeling it gave me of savage, brooding melancholy.”

The Big Money completes John Dos Passos''s three-volume "fable of America''s materialistic success and moral decline" (American Heritage) and marks the end of "one of the most ambitious projects that an American novelist has ever undertaken" (Time). Here we come back to America after the war and find a nation on the upswing. Industrialism booms. The stock market surges. Lindbergh takes his solo flight. Henry Ford makes automobiles. From New York to Hollywood, love affairs to business deals, it is a country taking the turns too fast, speeding toward the crash of 1929. Ultimately, whether the novels are read together or separately, they paint a sweeping portrait of collective America and showcase the brilliance and bravery of one of its most enduring and admired writers. "It is not simply that [Dos Passos] has a keen eye for people, but that he has a keen eye for so many different kinds of people." -- New York Times

In a novel that closely parallels author John Dos Passos''s own ideological struggles during the Spanish Civil War, protagonist Glenn Spotswood, an American, travels to Spain to fight on the Republican side. There, Spotswood joins the Communist Party to help establish a more just society, but his idealism quickly degrades under the stress of party orthodoxy and hypocrisy.

In "Rosinante to the Road Again," John Dos Passos delivers a poignant exploration of the American landscape during the Great Depression, weaving together personal narrative, social commentary, and the restless spirit of travel. This semi-autobiographical work epitomizes Dos Passos''s modernist style, characterized by fragmented narrative techniques and a vivid depiction of everyday life punctuated by a deep sense of disillusionment. Through the eyes of the wandering protagonist, the book captures the stark realities and diverse voices of a nation in turmoil, embodying the author''s overarching themes of social justice and the quest for identity. John Dos Passos was not only a prominent novelist but also a passionate observer of socio-political movements in early 20th-century America. His experiences as a journalist and his participation in the modernist circle''Äîinteracting with figures such as Ernest Hemingway and Ezra Pound''Äîprofoundly influenced his writing. Dos Passos immersed himself in the struggles of the working class, reflecting on his travels and the people he encountered, thereby informing the vivid, gritty realism found in this work. "Rosinante to the Road Again" is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the complexities of American identity and the socio-economic challenges of its time. Dos Passos''Äôs masterful storytelling and evocative observations invite readers to accompany him on an unforgettable journey through a pivotal era, making it an essential addition to the canon of American literature.

A short novel based in part on Dos Passos''s own experiences as an ambulance driver in World War I.

A novel begun in college and then reworked for seven years, this work mirrors the author''s experience at Harvard and in greater Boston. The novel reflects young Dos Passos''s interests in aestheticism, Greek and Roman culture, and Walt Whitman.

John Dos Passos, the distinguished American novelist and historian has been personally interested in Brazil for the last fifteen years. He first visited the country in 1948, and returned again in 1956 and 1962. This book, which is based on his experiences in Brazil, presents the people and landscapes of a young country on the move. Here you will find several extraordinary reports on Brasilia, first in the planning stage, second in the wildly frantic period when it was a half-finished group of buildings, and, finally, as it appeared to Mr. Dos Passos in the summer of 1962 when it was at last beginning to function as a city. Here, too, is the story of Brazil’s great road building program designed to unify the country, and of the political battles in this enormous country which totters on the verge of a Communist takeover. From traveling the length and breadth of the land and from interviewing all kinds of people: politicians like Carlos Lacerda and religious leaders like Bishop Sales, Mr. Dos Passos has been able to transmit some of the flavor of the most important of Latin American nations. Mr. Dos Passos himself is of Portuguese descent, and he speaks Portuguese as well as Spanish. He begins this readable and fascinating book with a much needed short sketch of the history of Brazil and how the Portuguese tradition differs from the Spanish in South America.

With 1919, the second volume of his U.S.A. trilogy, John Dos Passos continues his "vigorous and sweeping panorama of twentieth-century America" (Forum), lauded on publication of the first volume not only for its scope, but also for its groundbreaking style. Again, employing a host of experimental devices that would inspire a whole new generation of writers to follow, Dos Passos captures the many textures, flavors, and background noises of modern life with a cinematic touch and unparalleled nerve. 1919 opens to find America and the world at war, and Dos Passos''s characters, many of whom we met in the first volume, are thrown into the snarl. We follow the daughter of a Chicago minister, a wide-eyed Texas girl, a young poet, a radical Jew, and we glimpse Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, and the Unknown Soldier.