false 261441 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173227754m/261441.jpg 261441 12 6503267 1937 U.S.A.: The 42nd Parallel/1919/The Big Money total:242|5:110|4:87|3:39|2:6|1:0| 242 1027 498 32 4778 3.95 2365 226 7579618 322133 261441 1883011140 9781883011147 31 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173227754m/261441.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/261441.U_S_A_The_42nd_Parallel_1919_The_Big_Money 4.28 190 3 1 false Thu Oct 11 08:56:13 -0700 2007 Thu Oct 11 08:57:05 -0700 2007 more...]]> 70853646 2694585 261441 1883011140 9781883011147 31 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173227754m/261441.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/261441.U_S_A_The_42nd_Parallel_1919_The_Big_Money 4.24 242 4 0 false Fri Apr 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Fri Sep 11 10:31:31 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 11 10:34:22 -0700 2009 U.S.A. trilogy (The 42nd Parallel, 1919, and The Big Money) is something of an anti-heroic epic, in which the intertwined lives of characters representing broad American types unfold to present a vision of America that fulfills the promise of American Idealism by drawing attention to t...more...]]> 36920753 836802 261441 1883011140 9781883011147 31 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173227754m/261441.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/261441.U_S_A_The_42nd_Parallel_1919_The_Big_Money 4.24 242 4 0 false Tue Nov 04 15:26:53 -0800 2008 Thu Nov 20 14:47:05 -0800 2008 ...more...]]> 61220636 1764477 261441 1883011140 9781883011147 31 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173227754m/261441.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/261441.U_S_A_The_42nd_Parallel_1919_The_Big_Money 4.24 242 5 0 false Fri Jun 26 14:42:15 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 29 09:57:17 -0700 2009 more...]]> 25860602 953464 261441 1883011140 9781883011147 31 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173227754m/261441.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/261441.U_S_A_The_42nd_Parallel_1919_The_Big_Money 4.24 242 5 0 false Sun Jul 06 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Jun 29 17:46:14 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 06 06:22:35 -0700 2008 more...]]> 51106044 82944 261441 1883011140 9781883011147 31 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173227754m/261441.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/261441.U_S_A_The_42nd_Parallel_1919_The_Big_Money 4.24 242 5 0 false Wed Apr 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 31 20:45:59 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 22 09:01:32 -0700 2009 By contrast, the tribulatio...more...]]> 20524779 963240 261441 1883011140 9781883011147 31 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173227754m/261441.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/261441.U_S_A_The_42nd_Parallel_1919_The_Big_Money 4.24 242 4 1 false Sat Apr 19 10:12:52 -0700 2008 Fri May 16 13:02:50 -0700 2008 more...]]> 51663700 442654 261441 1883011140 9781883011147 31 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173227754m/261441.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/261441.U_S_A_The_42nd_Parallel_1919_The_Big_Money 4.24 242 0 0 false Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 06 05:16:49 -0700 2009 Mon May 04 00:16:55 -0700 2009 more...]]> 21432916 974210 3262149 0188301114 1 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1209695870m/3262149.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3262149.U_S_A_ 4.20 5 In realist sections, U.S.A. relates the lives of twelve persons seeking to find places in society during the early 20th century. Each is presented to the reader from childhood on in free indirect speech, giving the impression of reading about the whole life of a character. While their lives are distinct, characters occasionally interact. Some minor characters whose own point of view is never given crop up repeatedly in the background, forming bridges between main characters.
Camera Eye sections are written in stream-of-consciousness adding up to an autobiographical Künstlerroman of Dos Passos, tracing his development into a politically committed writer. Camera Eye 50 arguably contains the most famous line of the whole trilogy, when he states upon the execution of Sacco & Vanzetti: "alright we are two nations."
Newsreels are headlines from the Chicago Tribune for The 42nd Parallel & Nineteen Nineteen & from the NY World for The Big Money, as well as popular lyrics. Newsreel 66, preceding Camera Eye 50 & announcing the Sacco & Vanzetti verdict, is noteworthy for containing The Internationale.
The biographies are accounts of historical figures. The most famous & often anthologized of these biographies is The Body of an American telling the story of an unknown soldier who fell in WWI concluding Nineteen Nineteen.
However, the separation between these narrative modes is more stylistic than thematic. Critics have pointed out connections between the fictional character Mary French in The Big Money & journalist Mary Heaton Vorse, calling into question the separation between fictional characters & celebrity biographies; & quotes from newspapers are often woven into the biographies as well, calling into question the separation between them & Newsreels.
The book is written from a leftist perspective, displaying a deep sympathy for & identification with the Industrial Workers of the World, in which several charcters are involved. His attitude to the Communist Party is cooler, tho some individuals are depicted positively. The description of such incidents as the Centralia Massacre & the executions of Joe Hill, Sacco & Vanzetti leaves no doubt about where the writer stood.
Also highly partisan is the negative depiction of Woodrow Wilson. While Wilson is remembered mainly for his post-WWI role in failing to get the US involved in the League of Nations, Dos Passos concentrates on opressive measures taken by his administration against the IWW & other radical, labor movement & antiwar groups, before & especially during the war as well as in the later Red Scare.
However, while refelecting the fact that Dos Passos was on the Left when the trilogy was written, it also reflects his growing pessimism. Social change is essentially presented as desirable but inattainable. The IWW is mourned as a lost hope (it still exists, but lost its momentum under governmental suppression).
This is clearly reflected in the careers of the trilogy's characters. Excepting those who get killed off, characters as they grow older almost invariably abandon their principles, lose their vitality & become coopted into the lifeless capitalist system or the scarcely better Communist bureaucracy. Seen in light of Dos Passos' political devolution, U.S.A. may mark his last station on the Left.]]> 5 0 false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 1973 Thu May 01 19:37:02 -0700 2008 Thu May 01 19:48:18 -0700 2008 more...]]> 13073972 676532 261441 1883011140 9781883011147 31 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173227754m/261441.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/261441.U_S_A_The_42nd_Parallel_1919_The_Big_Money 4.24 242 5 0 false Mon Jan 21 12:36:19 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 21 12:39:06 -0800 2008 more...]]> 42638854 1883572 261441 1883011140 9781883011147 31 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173227754m/261441.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/261441.U_S_A_The_42nd_Parallel_1919_The_Big_Money 4.24 242 4 0 false Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sat Jan 10 20:45:40 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 10 20:45:40 -0800 2009 42640041 1888073 261441 1883011140 9781883011147 31 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173227754m/261441.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/261441.U_S_A_The_42nd_Parallel_1919_The_Big_Money 4.24 242 5 0 false Thu May 01 00:00:00 -0700 1997 Sat Jan 10 20:57:23 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 10 20:57:23 -0800 2009 5
Need to get another copy of this, stat.]]> 73116824 2382847 261441 1883011140 9781883011147 31 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173227754m/261441.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/261441.U_S_A_The_42nd_Parallel_1919_The_Big_Money 4.24 242 4 0 false Tue Nov 24 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Oct 01 12:31:44 -0700 2009 Tue Nov 24 08:08:14 -0800 2009 more...]]> 61538495 712056 261441 1883011140 9781883011147 31 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173227754m/261441.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/261441.U_S_A_The_42nd_Parallel_1919_The_Big_Money 4.24 242 4 0 false Mon Jun 29 13:44:16 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 29 13:45:14 -0700 2009 56998860 110525 261441 1883011140 9781883011147 31 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173227754m/261441.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/261441.U_S_A_The_42nd_Parallel_1919_The_Big_Money 4.24 242 5 0 false Fri May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri May 22 15:25:37 -0700 2009 Fri May 22 15:26:17 -0700 2009 54367513 1888594 261441 1883011140 9781883011147 31 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173227754m/261441.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/261441.U_S_A_The_42nd_Parallel_1919_The_Big_Money 4.24 242 0 0 false Wed Apr 29 10:04:17 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 29 10:04:17 -0700 2009 73046676 1015041 261441 1883011140 9781883011147 31 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173227754m/261441.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/261441.U_S_A_The_42nd_Parallel_1919_The_Big_Money 4.24 242 0 0 false Wed Sep 30 15:54:06 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 30 15:54:06 -0700 2009 51113889 1177098 261441 1883011140 9781883011147 31 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173227754m/261441.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/261441.U_S_A_The_42nd_Parallel_1919_The_Big_Money 4.24 242 0 0 false Tue Mar 31 22:18:11 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 31 22:18:18 -0700 2009 16605511 951654 261441 1883011140 9781883011147 31 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173227754m/261441.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/261441.U_S_A_The_42nd_Parallel_1919_The_Big_Money 4.24 242 5 0 false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Thu Feb 28 08:56:04 -0800 2008 Thu Feb 28 09:01:44 -0800 2008 more...]]> 9466584 637217 261441 1883011140 9781883011147 31 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173227754m/261441.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/261441.U_S_A_The_42nd_Parallel_1919_The_Big_Money 4.24 242 4 0 false Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 1997 Fri Nov 23 17:57:34 -0800 2007 Fri Nov 23 18:00:50 -0800 2007 more...]]> 8 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=261441