John Dos Passos's Books

The 42nd Parallel

By: John Dos Passos

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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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Page Count

356

Publisher

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Published Date

ISBN 10

0618056815

ISBN 13

9780618056811

The Early Dos Passos Reader

By: John Dos Passos

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The Early Dos Passos Reader

By: John Dos Passos

This volume contains the following works of John Dos Passos: Three Soldiers One Man's Initiation - 1917 Rosinante to the Road Again A Pushcart at the Curb It also contains a nineteenth century polemic by his father, John Randolph Dos Passos about why the United States should recognize Cuba. John Dos Passos was born in Chicago on January 14, 1896. His father was John Randolph Dos Passos; many people get confused when making Internet searches for the son, who is the more famous author by far. The elder Dos Passos was married when the younger John Dos Passos was born out of wedlock. Although the father married his son John's mother after the death of his wife in 1910 when the younger John Dos Passos was 14, he refused to acknowledge John as his son until he turned 16. In spite of these familial difficulties, the younger John Dos Passos, hereinafter referred to as simply John Dos Passos, benefitted from an expensive, first-class education, all presumably, paid for by his father. He enrolled at what now is called Choate Rosemary Hall preparatory school in Connecticut and then traveled with a private tutor on a six-month tour to study art, architecture, and literature. After he graduated from Harvard in 1916, he went to Spain, where he volunteered as an ambulance driver during World War I before the United States entered the war. In 1918, he enlisted in the U. S. Army Medical Corps. During this time, he completed a draft of his first novel, One Man's Initiation: 1917, which began his career as a highly successful writer. After he started writing as a career, he became friends with Ernest Hemingway and several other writers of the "lost generation." He soon began to see the United States as two nations, one rich and one poor. He spent several months in Russia studying socialism in 1928. In the 1930s, he served on The American Committee for the Defense of Leon Trotsky (the so-called Dewey Commission) which had been set up following the first of the Moscow "Show Trials" in 1936. He returned to Spain during the Spanish Civil War, but his views on the Communists and Communism had already begun to change. Dos Passos broke with Hemingway and others over attitudes towards the war and willingness to lend their names to deceptive Stalinist propaganda. He and Hemingway became bitter enemies. John Dos Passos would later write: "I have come to think, especially since my trip to Spain, that civil liberties must be protected at every stage." He continued his career as a writer with the publication of numerous other books, over thirty-seven of which were published. The last was published in 1970, the year of his death in Baltimore. John Dos Passos is probably best known today for his U.S.A trilogy. Unfortunately, since these three books were published in the 1930s, they do not appear to be available in the public domain in the United States. Hence, they are not included in this anthology. A motivated reader can probably find a version of these books on the Internet. In 1947, he was elected to membership in the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Letters. John Dos Passos died on September 28, 1970 in Baltimore, Maryland, which is why he is included in the Baltimore Authors series published by AfterMath. A final note on his father is in order. John Randolph Dos Passos was an authority on trusts and supported many of the most powerful conglomerates and cartels in his writings. Not surprisingly, given the obviously tense and complex relationship between father and son, the younger John Dos Passos wrote in opposition to many of his father's published positions in many of his books. For purposes of comparison, the arguments of the older Dos Passos about the liberation of Cuba from Spain are included in this volume. It appears that his only connection to Baltimore is through his son.

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712

Publisher

Createspace Independent Pub

Published Date

ISBN 10

148411891X

ISBN 13

9781484118917

The Ground We Stand on

The History of a Political Creed

By: John Dos Passos

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The Ground We Stand on

The History of a Political Creed

By: John Dos Passos

Every generation rewrites the past. In easy times history is more or less of an ornamental art, but in times of danger we are driven to the written record by a pressing need to find answers to the riddles of today. We need to know what kind of firm ground other men, belonging to generations before us, have found to stand on. In spite of changing conditions of life they were not very different from us. This is a prime example of Dos Passos as an American novelist and reporter on American reality. In times of change and danger when there is fear under men's reasoning, a sense of continuity with generations gone before can stretch like a lifeline across the scary present. That is why, in times like ours, when old institutions are caving in and being replaced by new institutions not necessarily in accord with most men's preconceived hopes, political thought has to look backwards as well as forwards. It is not a question of what we want; it is a question of what is. American history, the successes and failures of the men who went before us, is only alive in so far as some seeds are still stirring and growing in us today. Divided up into three major sections: The Use of the Past, Roger Williams and the Planting of the Commonwealth in America, and On the White Porch of the Republic; The Ground We Stand On traces the backgrounds and the rise of America's early political structure, the variety of influences upon it, and the men who gave it a stable foundation. John Dos Passos (1896-1970), American novelist, was born in Chicago. During and after the Second World War, he became increasingly interested in the roots of American culture and produced a number of historical studies relating to the problems of American democracy. He wrote both fiction and nonfiction. Among his works are Manhattan Transfer, the trilogy U.S.A. and his autobiographical The Best Times.

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488

Publisher

Transaction Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

1412813255

ISBN 13

9781412813259

1919

By: John Dos Passos

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1919

By: John Dos Passos

“A Depression-era novel about American tumult has—perhaps unsurprisingly—aged quite well.”—The New Yorker In 1919, the second volume of his U.S.A. trilogy, John Dos Passos continues his “vigorous and sweeping panorama of twentieth-century America” (Forum). 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 the era 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, and a Jewish radical, and we get glimpses of Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, and the Unknown Soldier. Named one of the Modern Library’s 100 best English-language novels of the twentieth century, “U.S.A. is a masterpiece” (Tim O’Brien) and 1919 is an unforgettable chapter in the saga. “It’s the kind of book a reader never forgets.”—Chicago Daily Tribune

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Page Count

509

Publisher

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Published Date

ISBN 10

0544341457

ISBN 13

9780544341456

The Big Money

By: John Dos Passos

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The Big Money

By: John Dos Passos

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

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470

Publisher

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Published Date

ISBN 10

0618056831

ISBN 13

9780618056835

Manhattan Transfer

By: John Dos Passos

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Manhattan Transfer

By: John Dos Passos

This novel by the author of the U.S.A. Trilogy offers an “expressionistic picture of New York” in the 1920s (The New York Times). Much like the vivid experience of riding the city’s mass transit system, Manhattan Transfer introduces us to a large and diverse cast of characters—from wealthy power brokers to struggling immigrants—and paints a portrait of this place and its people in the period between the two world wars. From Fourteenth Street to the Bowery, Delmonico’s to the underbelly of the city waterfront, John Dos Passos chronicles the lives of Americans struggling to become a part of modernity before they are destroyed by it. Called “a novel of the very first importance” by Sinclair Lewis, Manhattan Transfer is a masterpiece of modern fiction written by an icon of the Lost Generation whose books still “read as if they were written yesterday” (Dave Eggers, bestselling author of The Circle).

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Page Count

350

Publisher

HMH

Published Date

ISBN 10

0547526695

ISBN 13

9780547526690

One Man's Initiation 1917

By: John Dos Passos

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One Man's Initiation 1917

By: John Dos Passos

John Roderigo Dos Passos (1896-1970) was an American novelist and artist. In 1912 he attended Harvard University. Following his graduation in 1916 he travelled to Spain to study art and architecture. With World War I raging in Europe and America not yet participating, Dos Passos volunteered in July 1917 for the S. S.U. 60 of the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps. He worked as a driver in Paris and in north-central Italy. By the late summer of 1918, he had completed a draft of his first novel. Considered one of the Lost Generation writers, Dos Passosa first novel, One Manas Initiation- 1917, was published in 1920. It was followed by an antiwar story, Three Soldiers (1921). His major work is the U. S.A. trilogy comprising The 42nd Parallel (1930), Nineteen Nineteen (1932), and The Big Money (1936). Between 1942 and 1945, Dos Passos worked as a journalist covering World War II. His other works include: A Pushcart at the Curb (1922), Streets of Night (1923) and Journeys Between Wars (1938).

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104

Published Date

ISBN 10

1409941604

ISBN 13

9781409941606

Mr. Wilson's War

From the Assassination of McKinley to the Defeat of the League of Nations

By: John Dos Passos

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Mr. Wilson's War

From the Assassination of McKinley to the Defeat of the League of Nations

By: John Dos Passos

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

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Page Count

769

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1628735139

ISBN 13

9781628735130

The Great Days

A Novel

By: John Dos Passos

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The Great Days

A Novel

By: John Dos Passos

In this semi-autobiographical novel, an American named Roland Lancaster has a doomed affair with a younger woman, Elsa, in Cuba during World War II. The love story, in its happiest moments, parallels the idyllic life that author John Dos Passos had with his first wife, Katy. The Great Days plots a key concern of the author’s in the 1950s—America’s rise to global prominence during World War II, and its loss of power in the years following the peace. In preparing the novel, Dos Passos studied James V. Forrestal, Secretary of Defense from 1947 to 1949. In his notes on the novel, he quotes Forrestal: “to achieve accommodation between the power we now possess, our reluctance to use it positively, the realistic necessity for such use, and our national ideals.”

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Page Count

297

Publisher

Open Road Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1504015525

ISBN 13

9781504015523

1919

Second in the Trilogy U.S.A.

By: John Dos Passos

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1919

Second in the Trilogy U.S.A.

By: John Dos Passos

With U.S.A. John Dos Passos is said to have written the great American novel. While Fitzgerald and Hemingway were cultivating their "own little corners", said Edmund Wilson, Dos Passos was taking on the world. Counted among the best novels of the century by the Modern Library and by some of the finest writers working today, U.S.A. is being talked about, studied, and read again, not just by students of modernism but by readers of all ages both here and abroad. Here is a kaleidoscopic portrait of a nation, buzzing with history and life on every page. "1919 is literally what so many novels are erroneously called: a 'slice of life'" (Chicago Tribune). America and the world are at war. A low-caste sailor, a minister's daughter, a young poet, a radical Jew, and a wide-eyed Texas girl are thrown into the snarl.

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472

Publisher

New Amer Library

Published Date

ISBN 10

0451524683

ISBN 13

9780451524683

Easter Island

Island of Enigmas

By: John Dos Passos

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Easter Island

Island of Enigmas

By: John Dos Passos

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.”

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Page Count

269

Publisher

Doubleday

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307787052

ISBN 13

9780307787057

Streets of Night

By: John Dos Passos

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Streets of Night

By: John Dos Passos

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.

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Page Count

236

Publisher

Susquehanna University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0945636024

ISBN 13

9780945636021

U.S.A.

The Complete Trilogy [The 42nd Parallel, 1919, and The Big Money]

By: John Dos Passos

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U.S.A.

The Complete Trilogy [The 42nd Parallel, 1919, and The Big Money]

By: John Dos Passos

U.S.A. has descriptive copy which is not yet available from the Publisher.

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Page Count

1521

Publisher

HarperCollins

Published Date

ISBN 10

0063351560

ISBN 13

9780063351561

Book's by John Dos Passos

The 42nd Parallel

The 42nd Parallel

The Early Dos Passos Reader

The Early Dos Passos Reader

The Ground We Stand on

The Ground We Stand on

1919

1919

The Big Money

The Big Money

Manhattan Transfer

Manhattan Transfer

One Man's Initiation 1917

One Man's Initiation 1917

Mr. Wilson's War

Mr. Wilson's War

The Great Days

The Great Days

1919

1919

Easter Island

Easter Island

Streets of Night

Streets of Night

U.S.A.

U.S.A.

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