The 42nd Parallel
Books | Fiction / Classics
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John Dos Passos
The first in John Dos Passos's acclaimed USA trilogy—a “linguistically adventurous national portrait for a precarious age—his, and ours” (The New Yorker). John Dos Passos's USA trilogy (comprising The 42nd Parallel, 1919, and The Big Money), named one of the best books of the twentieth century by the Modern Library, is a grand, kaleidoscopic portrait of a nation, buzzing with history and life on every page. Told in stories and "newsreels" consisting of front-page headlines and article fragments from the Chicago Tribune, 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 appearances. While Fitzgerald and Hemingway were cultivating what Edmund Wilson once called their "own little corners," John Dos Passos was taking on the world.
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Author
John Dos Passos
Pages
352
Publisher
HarperCollins
Published Date
2013-12-24
ISBN
0547524919 9780547524917
Community ReviewsSee all
"I have been packing this book with me across four countries for ten years, avoiding it because it looked so boring. I bought it because it was on the Modern Library list, but was intimidated by it. I shouldn't have been. The nearly 100 year old writing is perfectly suitable for today's ADD reader. It's interesting, fun, and I'm not sure all editions include the sketches but I wish all adult books did. I was lucky to have read this shortly after reading Dead Wake, which tied together some nice history about the era. Great read, and I'll try to make it to the others in the trilogy."
Andrew Greene