1919

“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... Read more

“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 Less