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John Dos Passos

Born

in Chicago, Illinois, The United States

January 14, 1896

Died

September 28, 1970

Genre

Literature & Fiction, Poetry

Influences

Daniel Defoe, Thackeray, James Joyce, Blaise Cendrars, Ezra Pound, T.S ...more

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John Dos Passos was a prominent American novelist, artist, and political thinker best known for his U.S.A. trilogy—The 42nd Parallel, 1919, and The Big Money—a groundbreaking work of modernist fiction that employed experimental narrative techniques to depict the complexities of early 20th-century American life. Born in Chicago in 1896, he was educated at Harvard and served as an ambulance driver during World War I, experiences that deeply influenced his early literary themes. His first novel, One Man’s Initiation: 1917, and the antiwar Three Soldiers drew on his wartime observations and marked him as a major voice among the Lost Generation.
Dos Passos’s 1925 novel Manhattan Transfer brought him widespread recognition and introduced stylistic John Dos Passos was a prominent American novelist, artist, and political thinker best known for his U.S.A. trilogy—The 42nd Parallel, 1919, and The Big Money—a groundbreaking work of modernist fiction that employed experimental narrative techniques to depict the complexities of early 20th-century American life. Born in Chicago in 1896, he was educated at Harvard and served as an ambulance driver during World War I, experiences that deeply influenced his early literary themes. His first novel, One Man’s Initiation: 1917, and the antiwar Three Soldiers drew on his wartime observations and marked him as a major voice among the Lost Generation.
Dos Passos’s 1925 novel Manhattan Transfer brought him widespread recognition and introduced stylistic innovations that would define his later work. His U.S.A. trilogy fused fiction, biography, newsreel-style reportage, and autobiographical “Camera Eye” sections to explore the impact of capitalism, war, and political disillusionment on the American psyche. Once aligned with leftist politics, Dos Passos grew increasingly disillusioned with Communism, especially after the murder of his friend José Robles during the Spanish Civil War—a turning point that led to a break with Ernest Hemingway and a sharp turn toward conservatism.
Throughout his career, Dos Passos remained politically engaged, writing essays, journalism, and historical studies while also campaigning for right-leaning figures like Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon in the 1960s. He contributed to publications such as American Heritage, National Review, and The Freeman, and published over forty books including biographies and historical reflections. Despite political shifts, his commitment to liberty and skepticism of authoritarianism remained central themes.
Also a visual artist, Dos Passos created cover art and illustrations for many of his own books, exhibiting a style influenced by modernist European art. Though less acclaimed for his painting, he remained artistically active throughout his life. His multidisciplinary approach and innovations in narrative structure influenced numerous writers and filmmakers, from Jean-Paul Sartre to Norman Mailer and Adam Curtis.
Later recognized with the Antonio Feltrinelli Prize for literature in 1967, Dos Passos’s legacy endures through his literary innovations and sharp commentary on American identity. He died in 1970, leaving behind a vast and diverse body of work that continues to shape the landscape of American fiction. ...more

Combine Editions
John Dos Passos’s books

Average rating: 3.84 · 30,347 ratings · 2,651 reviews · 224 distinct works • Similar authors

	The 42nd Parallel (U.S.A. #1) 3.83 avg rating — 7,997 ratings — published 1930 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Manhattan Transfer 3.64 avg rating — 7,453 ratings — published 1925 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	U.S.A.: The 42nd Parallel / 1919 / The Big Money by John Dos Passos, Daniel Aaron (Editor), Townsend Ludington (Editor) 4.12 avg rating — 5,045 ratings — published 1930 — 99 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	1919 (U.S.A., #2) 3.97 avg rating — 3,369 ratings — published 1932 — 61 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Big Money (U.S.A., #3) 4.02 avg rating — 3,049 ratings — published 1936 — 51 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	One Man's Initiation: 1917 3.40 avg rating — 627 ratings — published 1920 — 121 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Mr. Wilson's War: From the Assassination of McKinley to the Defeat of the League of Nations 3.92 avg rating — 222 ratings — published 1962 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Best Times: An Informal Memoir 3.93 avg rating — 180 ratings — published 1966 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	El numero uno 3.29 avg rating — 102 ratings — published 1943 — 17 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Midcentury 3.66 avg rating — 71 ratings — published 1960 — 17 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by John Dos Passos…

Series by John Dos Passos

The U.S.A. Trilogy (3 books)
by

John Dos Passos

3.96 avg rating — 19,460 ratings

District of Columbia (4 books)
by

John Dos Passos

3.51 avg rating — 187 ratings

Quotes by John Dos Passos (?)

“We work to eat to get the strength to work to eat to get the strength to work.”
― John Dos Passos

64 likes

“If there is a special Hell for writers it would be in the forced contemplation of their own works, with all the misconceptions, the omissions, the failures that any finished work of art implies.”
― John Dos Passos

40 likes

“I never see the dawn that I don't say to myself perhaps.”
― John Dos Passos

28 likes

See all John Dos Passos's quotes »

Polls

What fiction book would you like to read for March's book of the month?

The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West

14 votes, 43.8%

This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald

10 votes, 31.3%

Novel on Yellow Paper, Or, Work It Out for Yourself by Stevie Smith

5 votes, 15.6%

The 42nd Parallel: Volume One of the U.S.A. Trilogy by John Dos Passos

2 votes, 6.3%

Star Begotten: A Biological Fantasia by H.G. Wells

1 vote, 3.1%

32 total votes

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John Dos Passos’s Followers (608)

John Dos Passos

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Combine Editions
John Dos Passos’s books