John Dos Passos Popular Books

John Dos Passos Biography & Facts

John Roderigo Dos Passos (; January 14, 1896 – September 28, 1970) was an American novelist, most notable for his U.S.A. trilogy. Born in Chicago, Dos Passos graduated from Harvard College in 1916. He traveled widely as a young man, visiting Europe and southwest Asia, where he learned about literature, art, and architecture. During World War I, he was an ambulance driver for the American Volunteer Motor Ambulance Corps in Paris and Italy, before joining the United States Army Medical Corps as a private.In 1920, his first novel, One Man's Initiation: 1917, was published, and in 1925, his novel Manhattan Transfer became a commercial success. His U.S.A. trilogy, which consists of the novels The 42nd Parallel (1930), 1919 (1932), and The Big Money (1936), was ranked by the Modern Library in 1998 as 23rd of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. Written in experimental, non-linear form, the trilogy blends elements of biography and news reports to paint a landscape of early 20th-century American culture. Beyond his writing, Dos Passos is known for his shift in political views. Following his experiences in World War I, he became interested in socialism and pacifism, which also influenced his early work. In 1928, he traveled to the Soviet Union, curious about its social and political experiment, though he left with mixed impressions. His experiences during the Spanish Civil War disillusioned him with left-wing politics while also severing his relationship with fellow writer Ernest Hemingway. By the 1950s, his political views had changed dramatically, and he had become more conservative. In the 1960s, he campaigned for presidential candidates Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon. As an artist, Dos Passos created his own cover art for his books, influenced by modernism in 1920s Paris. He died in Baltimore, Maryland. Spence's Point, his Virginia estate, was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1971. Early life Born in Chicago, Dos Passos was the illegitimate son of John Randolph Dos Passos (1844–1917), a lawyer of half-Madeiran Portuguese descent, and Lucy Addison (Sprigg) Madison of Petersburg, Virginia. His father was married at the time and had a son several years older than John. As a child, John traveled extensively with his mother, who was sickly and preferred Europe. John's father married Lucy after the death of his first wife in 1910, when John was 14, but he refused to formally acknowledge John for another two years. John Randolph Dos Passos was an authority on trusts, and a staunch supporter of the powerful industrial conglomerates that his son expressly criticized in his fictional works during the 1920s and 1930s.After he returned with his mother to the US, Dos Passos was enrolled in 1907 at the Choate School (now Choate Rosemary Hall), a private college-preparatory school in Wallingford, Connecticut, under the name John Roderigo Madison. His parents later arranged for him to travel with a private tutor on a six-month tour of France, England, Italy, Greece, and southwest Asia, to study the masters of classical art, architecture, and literature. In 1912, Dos Passos enrolled in Harvard College, where he became friends with classmate e.e. cummings, who said there was a "foreignness" about Dos Passos, and that "no one at Harvard looked less like an American."Following his graduation cum laude in 1916, Dos Passos traveled to Spain to study art and architecture. In July 1917, with World War I raging in Europe, Dos Passos volunteered for the Sanitary Squad Unit (S.S.U.) 60 of the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps, along with friends Cummings and Robert Hillyer. Later, he also worked as a volunteer ambulance driver with the American Red Cross in north-central Italy. By the late summer of 1918, Dos Passos had completed a draft of his first novel. At the same time, he had to report for duty with the U.S. Army Medical Corps at Camp Crane in Pennsylvania. On Armistice Day, he was stationed in Paris, where the U.S. Army Overseas Education Commission allowed him to study anthropology at the Sorbonne. Three Soldiers, his novel drawn from those experiences, features a character who has virtually the same military career as the writer and stays in Paris after the war. Literary career Considered one of the Lost Generation writers, Dos Passos published his first novel in 1920, One Man's Initiation: 1917, which was written in the trenches during World War I. It was followed by the antiwar novel, Three Soldiers, which brought him considerable recognition. His 1925 novel about life in New York City, titled Manhattan Transfer, was a commercial success, and introduced experimental stream-of-consciousness techniques. Those ideas also coalesced into the U.S.A. trilogy, of which the first book appeared in 1930. A social revolutionary, Dos Passos came to see the United States as two nations, one rich and one poor. He wrote admiringly about the Industrial Workers of the World, and the injustice in the criminal convictions of Sacco and Vanzetti, and joined with other notable figures in the United States and Europe in a failed campaign to overturn their death sentences. In 1928, Dos Passos spent several months in Russia studying socialism. He was a leading participant in the April 1935 First Americans Writers Congress, sponsored by the Communist-leaning League of American Writers, but he eventually balked at the idea that Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union, would have control over creative writers in the United States. In 1936–1937, Dos Passos served on the American Committee for the Defense of Leon Trotsky, commonly known as the "Dewey Commission", with other notable figures such as Sidney Hook, Reinhold Niebuhr, Norman Thomas, Edmund Wilson, and chairman John Dewey. It had been set up following the first of the Moscow "Show Trials" in 1936, part of the massive purges of Soviet party leaders and intellectuals in that period.In the following year, he wrote the screenplay for the film The Devil Is a Woman, starring Marlene Dietrich and directed by Josef von Sternberg, both exiles from Nazi Germany. It was adapted from the 1898 novel La Femme et le pantin by Pierre Louÿs. In 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, Dos Passos returned to Spain with writer Ernest Hemingway, whom he had met in Paris in the 1920s. However, his views on the Communist movement had already begun to change. Dos Passos broke with Hemingway and Herbert Matthews over what he considered their cavalier attitude towards the war, and their willingness to lend their names to deceptive Stalinist propaganda efforts, including the cover-up of the Soviet responsibility in the murder of José Robles, Dos Passos's friend and translator of his works into Spanish. (In later years, Hemingway would give Dos Passos the derogatory moniker of "the pilot fish" in his memoir of 1920s Paris, A Moveable Feast.) Of Communism, Dos Passos later wrote: "I have come to think, especially since my trip to Spain, that civil libert.... Discover the John Dos Passos popular books. Find the top 100 most popular John Dos Passos books.

Best Seller John Dos Passos Books of 2024

  • Old Man and the Sea synopsis, comments

    Old Man and the Sea

    Ernest Hemingway

    The last novel Ernest Hemingway saw published, The Old Man and the Sea has proved itself to be one of the enduring works of American fiction. It is the story of an old Cuban fisher...

  • The Complete Short Stories, Essays, and a Play, Volume 1 synopsis, comments

    The Complete Short Stories, Essays, and a Play, Volume 1

    F. Scott Fitzgerald

    The first comprehensive collection of F. Scott Fitzgerald's short stories and essays is now available in eBook only. This definitive edition pulls together the complete works from ...

  • Death in the Afternoon synopsis, comments

    Death in the Afternoon

    Ernest Hemingway

    Ernest Hemingway's classic exploration of the history and pageantry of bullfighting, and the deeper themes of cowardice, bravery, sport and tragedy that it inspires.Still considere...

  • The Torrents of Spring synopsis, comments

    The Torrents of Spring

    Ernest Hemingway

    An early gem of satire and humor from the greatest American writer of the twentieth century.First published in 1926, The Torrents of Spring is a hilarious parody of the Chicago sch...

  • For Whom the Bell Tolls synopsis, comments

    For Whom the Bell Tolls

    Ernest Hemingway

    Introduced by Hemingway’s grandson Seán Hemingway, this newly annotated edition and literary masterpiece about an American in the Spanish Civil War features early drafts and supple...

  • Galahad and I Thought of Daisy synopsis, comments

    Galahad and I Thought of Daisy

    Edmund Wilson

    From one of the leading literary critics of his generation comes the first of Edmund Wilson's three novels, I thought of Daisy, published together with his short story "Galahad." S...

  • El Viejo y El Mar synopsis, comments

    El Viejo y El Mar

    Ernest Hemingway

    La obra que le valió a Hemingway el Pulitzer en 1953.«Su mejor obra. El tiempo demostrará que es la mejor que cualquiera de nosotros haya escrito, y con eso me refiero a sus coetán...

  • The 42nd Parallel synopsis, comments

    The 42nd Parallel

    John dos Passos

    The first in John Dos Passos's acclaimed USA trilogya “linguistically adventurous national portrait for a precarious agehis, and ours” (The New Yorker). John Dos Passos's USA trilo...

  • The Last Tycoon synopsis, comments

    The Last Tycoon

    F. Scott Fitzgerald

    With a new introduction by bestselling and iconic novelist Haruki MurakamiThis edition of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s final unfinished novel is now restored to the original 1941 text, wi...

  • The Old Man and the Sea synopsis, comments

    The Old Man and the Sea

    Ernest Hemingway

    Ernest Hemingway’s most beloved and popular novel ever, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, now featuring a previously unpublished short story and additional supplementary materialplus a...

  • A Life in Letters synopsis, comments

    A Life in Letters

    F. Scott Fitzgerald

    A vibrant selfportrait of an artist whose work was his life. In this new collection of F. Scott Fitzgerald's letters, edited by leading Fitzgerald scholar and biographer Matthew J...

  • Green Hills of Africa synopsis, comments

    Green Hills of Africa

    Ernest Hemingway

    The most intimate and elaborately enhanced addition to the Hemingway Library series: Hemingway’s memoir of his safari across the Serengetipresented with archival material from the ...

  • Manhattan Transfer synopsis, comments

    Manhattan Transfer

    John dos Passos

    John Dos Passos’ ground breaking novel Manhattan Transfer is a landmark literary achievement. The book attacks the consumerism and social indifference of contemporary American urba...

  • The Garden of Eden synopsis, comments

    The Garden of Eden

    Ernest Hemingway

    The last uncompleted novel of Ernest Hemingway, published posthumously in 1986, charts the life of a young American writer and his glamorous wife who fall for the same woman.A sens...

  • Easter Island synopsis, comments

    Easter Island

    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 sta...

  • Manhattan Transfer synopsis, comments

    Manhattan Transfer

    John dos Passos

    A masterpiece of modernist fiction that creates a vividly impressionistic portrait of a teeming and multifaceted New York CityIn a series of overlapping stories, John Dos Passos's ...

  • For Whom the Bell Tolls synopsis, comments

    For Whom the Bell Tolls

    Ernest Hemingway

    Ernest Hemingway's masterpiece on war, love, loyalty, and honor tells the story of Robert Jordan, an antifascist American fighting in the Spanish Civil War.In 1937 Ernest Hemingway...

  • The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway synopsis, comments

    The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway

    Ernest Hemingway

    The definitive short story collection that established Ernest Hemingway's literary reputation, originally published in 1938.Ernest Hemingway is a cultural iconan archetype of rugge...

  • The Complete Short Stories and Essays, Volume 2 synopsis, comments

    The Complete Short Stories and Essays, Volume 2

    F. Scott Fitzgerald

    The first comprehensive collection of F. Scott Fitzgerald's short stories and essays is now available in eBook only. This definitive edition pulls together the complete works from ...

  • El libro secreto de Frida Kahlo synopsis, comments

    El libro secreto de Frida Kahlo

    F. G. Haghenbeck

    Now in Spanish: one of Mexico’s most celebrated new novelists, F. G. Haghenbeck offers a beautifully written reimagining of Frida Kahlo’s fascinating life and loves.Entre los ...

  • The Early Works of John Dos Passos synopsis, comments

    The Early Works of John Dos Passos

    John dos Passos

    Passos' earliest work is collected here with an active table of contents.Works include:One Man's Initiation1917 Three Soldiers

  • A Short Autobiography synopsis, comments

    A Short Autobiography

    F. Scott Fitzgerald

    A selfportrait of a great writer. A Short Autobiography charts Fitzgerald's progression from exuberant and cocky with "What I think and Feel at 25", to mature and reflect...

  • The Beautiful and Damned synopsis, comments

    The Beautiful and Damned

    F. Scott Fitzgerald

    The Beautiful and Damned is the story of Anthony Patch and his wife, Gloria. Harvardeducated and an aspiring aesthete, Patch is waiting for his inheritance upon his grandfather’s d...

  • Three Novels synopsis, comments

    Three Novels

    F. Scott Fitzgerald

    Enjoying a spectacular surge in popularity, F. Scott Fitzgerald is more widely read than ever and this collection of three of his novels is a valuable addition to the Fitzgerald li...

  • Brazil on the Move synopsis, comments

    Brazil on the Move

    John dos Passos

    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 re...

  • The Men Who Made the Nation synopsis, comments

    The Men Who Made the Nation

    John dos Passos

    For this history, Dos Passos returns to the American colonial period and early nationhood, exploring the personalities who won the nation’s independence from England: Alexander Ham...

  • Thank You for the Light synopsis, comments

    Thank You for the Light

    F. Scott Fitzgerald

    This newly discovered short story by one of the greatest writers of twentiethcentury American literature, F. Scott Fitzgerald, will surprise and delight. Thank You for the Light is...

  • Gentlemen Volunteers synopsis, comments

    Gentlemen Volunteers

    Arlen J. Hansen & George Plimpton

    They left Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Michigan, and Stanford to drive ambulances on the French front, and on the killing fields of World War I they learned that war was no place for ...

  • The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway synopsis, comments

    The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway

    Ernest Hemingway

    The fourth in the series of new annotated editions of Ernest Hemingway’s work, edited by the author’s grandson Seán and introduced by his son Patrick, this “illuminating” (The Wash...

  • The Secret Book of Frida Kahlo synopsis, comments

    The Secret Book of Frida Kahlo

    F. G. Haghenbeck

    One of Mexico’s most celebrated new novelists, F. G. Haghenbeck offers a beautifully written reimagining of Frida Kahlo’s fascinating life and loves.When several notebooks wer...

  • This Side of Paradise synopsis, comments

    This Side of Paradise

    F. Scott Fitzgerald

    This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald's romantic and witty first novel, was written when the author was only twentythree years old. This semiautobiographical story of the hand...

  • John Dos Passos synopsis, comments

    John Dos Passos

    Georges-Albert Astre

    Cet ouvrage est une réédition numérique d’un livre paru au XXe siècle, désormais indisponible dans son format d’origine.

  • The Twenties synopsis, comments

    The Twenties

    Edmund Wilson

    In these pages, The Twenties: From Notebooks and Diaries of the Period, the preeminent literary critic Edmund Wilson gives us perhaps the largest authentic document of the time, th...

  • The Dangerous Summer synopsis, comments

    The Dangerous Summer

    Ernest Hemingway

    Experience Hemingway’s firsthand chronicle of a brutal season of bullfights in Spain.In the 1950s, Hemingway and his wife return to Spain, where Hemingway had visited before as a w...

  • Manhattan Transfer de John Dos Passos synopsis, comments

    Manhattan Transfer de John Dos Passos

    Encyclopaedia Universalis

    Bienvenue dans la collection Les Fiches de lecture d’UniversalisDeuxième roman de John Dos Passos (18961970), Manhattan Transfer attira l’attention par ses innovations stylistiques...

  • John Dos Passos synopsis, comments

    John Dos Passos

    Barry Maine

    This set comprises 40 volumes covering 19th and 20th century European and American authors. These volumes will be available as a complete set, mini boxed sets (by theme) or as ind...

  • The Last Tycoon synopsis, comments

    The Last Tycoon

    F. Scott Fitzgerald

    With a new introduction by bestselling and iconic novelist Haruki MurakamiThis edition of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s final unfinished novel is now restored to the original 1941 text, wi...

  • The Portugal Story synopsis, comments

    The Portugal Story

    John dos Passos

    This selective history of Portugal reflects the author’s fascination with his own Portuguese/Madeiran heritage. The work tracks the nation’s rise and fall as a world power, drawing...