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The Ambulance Drivers: Hemingway, Dos Passos, and a Friendship Made and Lost in War
After meeting for the first time on the front lines of World War I, two aspiring writers forge an intense twenty-year friendship and write some of America's greatest novels, giving voice to a "lost generation" shaken by war.
Eager to find his way in life and words, John Dos Passos first witnessed the horror of trench warfare in France as a volunteer ambulance driver retrieving the dead and seriously wounded from the front line. Later in the war, he briefly met another young writer, Ernest Hemingway, who was just arriving for his service in the ambulance corps. When the war was over, both men knew they had to write about it; they had to give voice to what they felt about war and life.
Their friendship and collaboration developed through the peace of the 1920s and 1930s, as Hemingway's novels soared to success while Dos Passos penned the greatest antiwar novel of his generation, Three Soldiers. In war, Hemingway found adventure, women, and a cause. Dos Passos saw only oppression and futility. Their different visions eventually turned their private friendship into a bitter public fight, fueled by money, jealousy, and lust.
Rich in evocative detail--from Paris cafes to the Austrian Alps, from the streets of Pamplona to the waters of Key West--The Ambulance Drivers is a biography of a turbulent friendship between two of the century's greatest writers, and an illustration of how war both inspires and destroys, unites and divides.
Eager to find his way in life and words, John Dos Passos first witnessed the horror of trench warfare in France as a volunteer ambulance driver retrieving the dead and seriously wounded from the front line. Later in the war, he briefly met another young writer, Ernest Hemingway, who was just arriving for his service in the ambulance corps. When the war was over, both men knew they had to write about it; they had to give voice to what they felt about war and life.
Their friendship and collaboration developed through the peace of the 1920s and 1930s, as Hemingway's novels soared to success while Dos Passos penned the greatest antiwar novel of his generation, Three Soldiers. In war, Hemingway found adventure, women, and a cause. Dos Passos saw only oppression and futility. Their different visions eventually turned their private friendship into a bitter public fight, fueled by money, jealousy, and lust.
Rich in evocative detail--from Paris cafes to the Austrian Alps, from the streets of Pamplona to the waters of Key West--The Ambulance Drivers is a biography of a turbulent friendship between two of the century's greatest writers, and an illustration of how war both inspires and destroys, unites and divides.
312 pages, Hardcover
First published March 28, 2017
29 people are currently reading
749 people want to read
About the author
James McGrath Morris
18 books61 followersI'm the author of several well-received biographies, including the New York Times bestseller and Editor's Choice "Eye on the Struggle: Ethel Payne, The First Lady of the Black Press," which received the Benjamin Hooks National Book Prize and was long-listed for the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography; "The Ambulance Drivers: Hemingway, Dos Passos, and a Friendship Made and Lost in War,' as well as "Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print, and Power," "The Rose Man of Sing Sing: A True Tale of Life, Murder, and Redemption in the Age of Yellow Journalism," and "Jailhouse Journalism: The Fourth Estate Behind Bars."
My newest book is "Tony Hillerman: A Life."
My newest book is "Tony Hillerman: A Life."
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January 15, 2024
"THE AMBULANCE DRIVERS: Hemingway, Dos Passos, and a Friendship Made and Lost in War" serves as both a dual biography and a story of 2 men who shared an ambition of making themselves the pre-eminent writers of their generation.
I wish to give credit to James McGrath Morris for writing such an interesting and engaging book. Prior to reading "THE AMBULANCE DRIVERS", I had cursory knowledge about Hemingway and had read one of his short stories during my freshman year in college that I thought at the time was rather good. A testament to the sparse prose that typifies Hemingway's best writing. As for John dos Passos, he was little more than a name I chanced upon over the past 20 years. I had read 2 books of his - the anti-war World War I novel 'Three Soldiers' (originally published in 1921) and a work of non-fiction, 'Mr. Wilson's War: From the Assassination of McKinley to the Defeat of the League of Nations' - both of which I liked, though I much preferred the latter to the former. So, when I came across "THE AMBULANCE DRIVERS" in a local, independent bookstore several weeks ago and read its flyleaf, I was determined to buy it.
Both men, despite their shared literary ambition, could not have been more different. Dos Passos, an only child from a somewhat affluent background, had grown up partly in Europe and partly in the U.S. and spoke several languages fluently. He was admitted to Harvard at 16 and graduated 4 years later in 1916. Curious about the war in Europe, he made his way to France early in 1917 and later joined the ambulance corps, serving on the Western Front on attachment with the French Army that summer. The experience solidified Dos Passos' impression of war as an absurdity fostered by governments practicing deceit (via propaganda) and a needless waste of lives.
Hemingway grew up in Oak Park, Illinois (near Chicago), the second of 5 children to a physician father and a mother who had trained as a musician. With America's entry into World War I in 1917, Hemingway, freshly out of high school, was keen to join the fight. But without his parents' consent, it wasn't possible for him to join the U.S. Army. So, for the remainder of the year, Hemingway went to work for The Kansas City Star as a cub reporter. There he honed his writing skills and came to rely on the Star's guide which came to define him later as a writer: "Use short sentences. Use short first paragraphs. Use vigorous English. Be positive, not negative."
Early in 1918, Hemingway responded to a recruitment drive from the Red Cross for ambulance drivers to serve at the Front. He arrived in France in June 1918. It was a critical time in the war with the Germans scarcely 40 miles from Paris and on the move. Hemingway didn't remain in France long. He went to Italy, where he and Dos Passos first became acquainted with each other. It was a brief encounter for both men. Hemingway was soon sent to the Front, where he was wounded in a mortar attack and ended up hospitalized in Italy for several months afterward. Dos Passos had run afoul of the Red Cross authorities for some anti-war remarks he had made in a letter to a friend in Spain that had been confiscated, translated, and read by Dos Passos' superiors. Plus, the draft board in the U.S. was breathing down his neck because Dos Passos had been out of the country at the time he had received a draft notice from the Army in 1917. So, Dos Passos returned to the U.S., was allowed to join the Army, returned with it to France shortly after the Armistice, gained acceptance into a special study program at the Sorbonne - courtesy of the Army, and was honorably discharged late in 1919.
The book, in the main, is about the development and the ups and downs of Hemingway's and Dos Passos' friendship. (The book also gives the reader wide ranging views of the personal lives of both men.) It was a friendship that was, at turns, supportive and fiercely competitive. As Hemingway gained fame from his best-selling novel, 'The Sun Also Rises' (1926) and gradually established his fame and reputation as a writer over the next decade, his friendship with Dos Passos would become fractious and eventually fall apart while both men were in Spain covering the civil war there in 1937.
I enjoyed reading "THE AMBULANCE DRIVERS" so much and recommend it to anyone wanting to learn about the lives of 2 key figures in 20th century American literature.
I wish to give credit to James McGrath Morris for writing such an interesting and engaging book. Prior to reading "THE AMBULANCE DRIVERS", I had cursory knowledge about Hemingway and had read one of his short stories during my freshman year in college that I thought at the time was rather good. A testament to the sparse prose that typifies Hemingway's best writing. As for John dos Passos, he was little more than a name I chanced upon over the past 20 years. I had read 2 books of his - the anti-war World War I novel 'Three Soldiers' (originally published in 1921) and a work of non-fiction, 'Mr. Wilson's War: From the Assassination of McKinley to the Defeat of the League of Nations' - both of which I liked, though I much preferred the latter to the former. So, when I came across "THE AMBULANCE DRIVERS" in a local, independent bookstore several weeks ago and read its flyleaf, I was determined to buy it.
Both men, despite their shared literary ambition, could not have been more different. Dos Passos, an only child from a somewhat affluent background, had grown up partly in Europe and partly in the U.S. and spoke several languages fluently. He was admitted to Harvard at 16 and graduated 4 years later in 1916. Curious about the war in Europe, he made his way to France early in 1917 and later joined the ambulance corps, serving on the Western Front on attachment with the French Army that summer. The experience solidified Dos Passos' impression of war as an absurdity fostered by governments practicing deceit (via propaganda) and a needless waste of lives.
Hemingway grew up in Oak Park, Illinois (near Chicago), the second of 5 children to a physician father and a mother who had trained as a musician. With America's entry into World War I in 1917, Hemingway, freshly out of high school, was keen to join the fight. But without his parents' consent, it wasn't possible for him to join the U.S. Army. So, for the remainder of the year, Hemingway went to work for The Kansas City Star as a cub reporter. There he honed his writing skills and came to rely on the Star's guide which came to define him later as a writer: "Use short sentences. Use short first paragraphs. Use vigorous English. Be positive, not negative."
Early in 1918, Hemingway responded to a recruitment drive from the Red Cross for ambulance drivers to serve at the Front. He arrived in France in June 1918. It was a critical time in the war with the Germans scarcely 40 miles from Paris and on the move. Hemingway didn't remain in France long. He went to Italy, where he and Dos Passos first became acquainted with each other. It was a brief encounter for both men. Hemingway was soon sent to the Front, where he was wounded in a mortar attack and ended up hospitalized in Italy for several months afterward. Dos Passos had run afoul of the Red Cross authorities for some anti-war remarks he had made in a letter to a friend in Spain that had been confiscated, translated, and read by Dos Passos' superiors. Plus, the draft board in the U.S. was breathing down his neck because Dos Passos had been out of the country at the time he had received a draft notice from the Army in 1917. So, Dos Passos returned to the U.S., was allowed to join the Army, returned with it to France shortly after the Armistice, gained acceptance into a special study program at the Sorbonne - courtesy of the Army, and was honorably discharged late in 1919.
The book, in the main, is about the development and the ups and downs of Hemingway's and Dos Passos' friendship. (The book also gives the reader wide ranging views of the personal lives of both men.) It was a friendship that was, at turns, supportive and fiercely competitive. As Hemingway gained fame from his best-selling novel, 'The Sun Also Rises' (1926) and gradually established his fame and reputation as a writer over the next decade, his friendship with Dos Passos would become fractious and eventually fall apart while both men were in Spain covering the civil war there in 1937.
I enjoyed reading "THE AMBULANCE DRIVERS" so much and recommend it to anyone wanting to learn about the lives of 2 key figures in 20th century American literature.
January 4, 2021
Having read both Hemingway and Dos Passos novels; I had no idea of the depth of their friendship and how they influenced one another. A good read for those interested in the Lost Generation authors and their times.
February 6, 2018
I learned a lot about Dos Passos that I didn't already know about him...and I plan to start reading him......much of what was relayed about Hemingway, I already knew a lot about...however, I learned new things about his relationship with John. Both complicated men.....
I found the writing of this seemed a lot like reading a novel, but about true events...and that made it easier to enjoy. I really recommend this if you have any interest in Hemingway, or John, or both.
I am glad I read it!
I found the writing of this seemed a lot like reading a novel, but about true events...and that made it easier to enjoy. I really recommend this if you have any interest in Hemingway, or John, or both.
I am glad I read it!
April 1, 2017
GNAB I received a free electronic copy of this biographical history from Netgalley, James McGrath Morris, and Da Capo Press in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for sharing your very hard work with me.
And there was a great deal of incredibly hard work involved in compiling this history. There is so much out there about Hemingway, and so little about Dos Passos that finding truth imbedded in the legends must have been difficult indeed. I came away from this with the same ideals I brought into the quest - I have adored Dos Passos all my adult life, just as my Dad worshipped at the feet of Hemingway. The major truth I was able to add to my preconceived notions is that both Hemingway and Dos Passos were mere men facing difficult times. It was their reactions to the whims of fate that bound them together as friends while young, and inevitably separated them into armed retreat toward the end of their lives. How human. And how tragic.
And there was a great deal of incredibly hard work involved in compiling this history. There is so much out there about Hemingway, and so little about Dos Passos that finding truth imbedded in the legends must have been difficult indeed. I came away from this with the same ideals I brought into the quest - I have adored Dos Passos all my adult life, just as my Dad worshipped at the feet of Hemingway. The major truth I was able to add to my preconceived notions is that both Hemingway and Dos Passos were mere men facing difficult times. It was their reactions to the whims of fate that bound them together as friends while young, and inevitably separated them into armed retreat toward the end of their lives. How human. And how tragic.
March 22, 2017
Thank you Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review this excellent work. So completely readable you lose track at times that this is non-fiction, until you arrive at the pages of sources, citations and end notes at the conclusion. Readers hesitate to embark on another examination of Hemingway, but framed as this was in the context of his relationship with Dos Passos it created boundaries and a focus. Perhaps because I was not familiar with Dos Passos life, I felt at times as the book was skewed toward him, but that may not be true. Nor was that a complaint, since I learned more there, and so enjoyably. I have Three Soldiers, but haven't read it yet. I can't say that the descriptions of his other, more experimental, works really appeal to me, thus damning me forever to the ranks of the popular reader, and not the literary eagle I dream to be. However, when the author describes what Dos Passos wanted to do with Manhattan Transfer, mixing in news and related other items and media, I was floored. Maybe I'll try that. I'm not really sure what to say about the Hemingway side of things. I don't remember anything really stunning me as new and exciting, Hemingway is not new territory for me. I really recommend this for readers familiar or not with these authors - it would be a great entre as well for the curious.
LATER THE SAME DAY....Like a bolt of lightning I am struck by the other things taking place in the US while Hemingway et al. engage in egotistical spats, and argue politics. Granted, there is the description in the book of Hemingway's outrage at the loss of life from a hurricane or tropical storm at a veteran's work settlement in the Keys....but I am watching a documentary on PBS on Dorothea Lange and her portraits of the Depression, and the point is driven home to me that no matter how poor the remuneration was for their efforts early on, or the "loans" that took place, these were artists that did lead lives far removed from the trauma the masses experienced. Not being critical, but just echoing a sentiment from the book that their careers were somewhat isolated from that experience.
OH, and on another topic, I enjoyed learning about the history of Esquire magazine, a favorite of my dad's that I read growing up at home as a teen.
LATER THE SAME DAY....Like a bolt of lightning I am struck by the other things taking place in the US while Hemingway et al. engage in egotistical spats, and argue politics. Granted, there is the description in the book of Hemingway's outrage at the loss of life from a hurricane or tropical storm at a veteran's work settlement in the Keys....but I am watching a documentary on PBS on Dorothea Lange and her portraits of the Depression, and the point is driven home to me that no matter how poor the remuneration was for their efforts early on, or the "loans" that took place, these were artists that did lead lives far removed from the trauma the masses experienced. Not being critical, but just echoing a sentiment from the book that their careers were somewhat isolated from that experience.
OH, and on another topic, I enjoyed learning about the history of Esquire magazine, a favorite of my dad's that I read growing up at home as a teen.
March 29, 2017
With so much having been written about Hemingway, this book takes an interesting perspective as it explores the long friendship between Hemingway and his fellow US writer John Dos Passos. Both served as ambulance drivers during WW1; both were later war correspondents; and both, of course, contributed to the formation of modernist literature. Hemingway's books still speak to us - Dos Passos' are rarely read other than by academics.
The book is a kind of dual biography of the two men as well as a biography of their friendship. If you're familiar with either Hemingway's books or life then there's little new here on him, but I knew very little about Dos Passos and so enjoyed that aspect of the tale. There are certainly more detailed books but this is a good introduction to the men, their lives and their visions of what literature can do and is for.
Thanks to the publisher for an ARC via NetGalley
The book is a kind of dual biography of the two men as well as a biography of their friendship. If you're familiar with either Hemingway's books or life then there's little new here on him, but I knew very little about Dos Passos and so enjoyed that aspect of the tale. There are certainly more detailed books but this is a good introduction to the men, their lives and their visions of what literature can do and is for.
Thanks to the publisher for an ARC via NetGalley
April 15, 2017
Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos met on the battlefields of WWI when Dos Passos was 22 and Hemingway not quite 19. Both were volunteer ambulance drivers, both later became war correspondents and both later became novelists. A close friendship developed between them and for many years their lives moved in tandem along very similar trajectories. But the friendship became - mainly on Hemingway's side – more and more volatile and increasingly the rivalries and jealousies between them – again mainly on Hemingway’s side – forced them apart. In this well-researched and engaging dual-biography, Morris explores this personal and literary friendship in a lively and well-written account, from which Hemingway doesn’t come out at all well. It must have been very difficult to sustain any sort of friendship with him. What a pity that he is now the best-remembered writer and Dos Passos far less well known. Perhaps this book will revive interest in him.
April 5, 2017
Quick and Entertaining
A must-read for fans of Hemingway and military buffs. Could not put down.
A must-read for fans of Hemingway and military buffs. Could not put down.
April 9, 2017
Rivals to the End
"There can be no covenants between men and lions, wolves and lambs can never be of one mind, but hate each other out and out an through." - Homer translated by Samuel Butler
"There are no pacts between lions and men." - Brad Pitt as Achilles in "Troy" (2004), screenwriter David Benioff
"The Ambulance Drivers" is a dual biography of the writers Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos that concentrates on their interactions from primarily the end of the First World War (1914-1918) to the middle of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) after which they mostly broke off contact. The reason for the break was over the death of José Robles (1897-1937), an academic friend of Dos Passos who acted as a Russian interpreter during the Spanish Civil War. Robles' insider knowledge gained in his translation duties was the likely reason he was purged by the Russians, who acted as military advisors to the Republican forces. This whole topic is covered in depth by Stephen Koch's The Breaking Point: Hemingway, Dos Passos, and the Murder of José Robles (2006).
Hemingway was constantly using his real life friends as material for his fiction, often resulting in hurt feelings and breakups. If the friend was a writer whose standing could be knocked down a peg or two as well then that was a bonus. As many before, Dos Passos became a target and was portrayed as the ineffectual writer Richard Gordon in To Have and Have Not (1937).
There was a temporary truce when Katy Dos Passos was killed in a car accident in 1947. Hemingway sent condolences to widower Dos Passos but behind his back cursed that his childhood crush (Hemingway knew her as Katy Smith in his teenage years) had been killed by the reckless driving of her husband.
Dos Passos managed to get his own back by painting an unflattering portrait of Hemingway as George Elbert Warner in Chosen Country (1951) but Hemingway was able to strike from beyond the grave by labelling Dos Passos as the treacherous pilotfish in "The Pilotfish and the Rich" section of A Moveable Feast: The Restored Edition (posthumous 1964, restored extended edition 2009).
James McGrath Morris has done an excellent job in telling the real-life stories of these two authors merged with the blows traded in the fictional world. Hemingway's life is the better known so having the life of Dos Passos filled in for you is the greater gain here. It may also serve to encourage readers to explore the otherwise almost forgotten works of the latter.
"There can be no covenants between men and lions, wolves and lambs can never be of one mind, but hate each other out and out an through." - Homer translated by Samuel Butler
"There are no pacts between lions and men." - Brad Pitt as Achilles in "Troy" (2004), screenwriter David Benioff
"The Ambulance Drivers" is a dual biography of the writers Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos that concentrates on their interactions from primarily the end of the First World War (1914-1918) to the middle of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) after which they mostly broke off contact. The reason for the break was over the death of José Robles (1897-1937), an academic friend of Dos Passos who acted as a Russian interpreter during the Spanish Civil War. Robles' insider knowledge gained in his translation duties was the likely reason he was purged by the Russians, who acted as military advisors to the Republican forces. This whole topic is covered in depth by Stephen Koch's The Breaking Point: Hemingway, Dos Passos, and the Murder of José Robles (2006).
Hemingway was constantly using his real life friends as material for his fiction, often resulting in hurt feelings and breakups. If the friend was a writer whose standing could be knocked down a peg or two as well then that was a bonus. As many before, Dos Passos became a target and was portrayed as the ineffectual writer Richard Gordon in To Have and Have Not (1937).
There was a temporary truce when Katy Dos Passos was killed in a car accident in 1947. Hemingway sent condolences to widower Dos Passos but behind his back cursed that his childhood crush (Hemingway knew her as Katy Smith in his teenage years) had been killed by the reckless driving of her husband.
Dos Passos managed to get his own back by painting an unflattering portrait of Hemingway as George Elbert Warner in Chosen Country (1951) but Hemingway was able to strike from beyond the grave by labelling Dos Passos as the treacherous pilotfish in "The Pilotfish and the Rich" section of A Moveable Feast: The Restored Edition (posthumous 1964, restored extended edition 2009).
James McGrath Morris has done an excellent job in telling the real-life stories of these two authors merged with the blows traded in the fictional world. Hemingway's life is the better known so having the life of Dos Passos filled in for you is the greater gain here. It may also serve to encourage readers to explore the otherwise almost forgotten works of the latter.
February 2, 2024
The Ambulance Drivers by James McGrath Morris is a non-fiction book about Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos' friendship, writing, and lives. After meeting as ambulance drivers during World War I and living in Paris in the 1920s, the two American writers would find companionship in the other until the end of the Spanish Civil War.
This was an interesting book! I loved getting to know more about Dos Passos' life and novels, and his friendship with Hemingway as they became part of "The Lost Generation" after serving as ambulance drivers in France and Italy.
I didn't know before that Dos Passos married Hemingway's childhood friend, Katy Smith, who had introduced Hemingway to both Hadley Richardson AND Pauline Pfeifer. So, that was new.
I'd like to read a Dos Passos novel now.
This was an interesting book! I loved getting to know more about Dos Passos' life and novels, and his friendship with Hemingway as they became part of "The Lost Generation" after serving as ambulance drivers in France and Italy.
I didn't know before that Dos Passos married Hemingway's childhood friend, Katy Smith, who had introduced Hemingway to both Hadley Richardson AND Pauline Pfeifer. So, that was new.
I'd like to read a Dos Passos novel now.
April 9, 2018
I forgot what a nasty person Hemingway was until reading this book. Appreciate he tried in his writing to perfectly describe and imperfect world while Dos Passos was out to change the world yet I would have much rather had those drinks with Dos alone rather then spend any time with Hemingway. The final breakup between these two came over Spain and the murder of José Robles by the Communist. More could have been written by the author on how Hemingway went from describing the world to paper over a murder but that Hemingway was an awful person may be enough.
April 3, 2021
I had no idea how intertwined the lives of Hemingway & Dos Passos were. This duel biography really brings that to light. A very good read. Recommended.
March 28, 2019
A vivid, judicious, engrossing narrative of the rises and falls of the epic friendship between Hemingway (whom you know) and John Dos Passos (whom you probably don't, but ought to)….
March 23, 2017
I got this book free from Netgalley in exchange for my honest feedback. I would give the book 3 stars because the amount of research the author had to do to put this together is quite impressive. I felt like I was getting a look into the private lives of Hemingway and Dos Passos, not just information I could find on Wikipedia or something. The detail and timeline was fun to follow, although it did feel a little choppy at times jumping back and forth between the two. I don't think there is any way to avoid that in a book about 2 separate people though.
I would likely give this book a higher rating if it was less descriptive about war and the atrocities that come with it. Somehow when reading the book description I didn't realize how much the book would talk about war, and some of it is quite graphic. I have a wild imagination and incredible memory, so I avoid books/movies/tv shows that are too graphic and dark because they leave a lasting negative impression on me. I was excited to read the book to hear more about Hemingway and Dos Passos, but was really turned off by the parts about war. If you aren’t bothered by those things, then you would enjoy this book much more than I did. I just had different expectations. I would recommend it if the topic interests you.
I would likely give this book a higher rating if it was less descriptive about war and the atrocities that come with it. Somehow when reading the book description I didn't realize how much the book would talk about war, and some of it is quite graphic. I have a wild imagination and incredible memory, so I avoid books/movies/tv shows that are too graphic and dark because they leave a lasting negative impression on me. I was excited to read the book to hear more about Hemingway and Dos Passos, but was really turned off by the parts about war. If you aren’t bothered by those things, then you would enjoy this book much more than I did. I just had different expectations. I would recommend it if the topic interests you.
May 5, 2019
I’ve always known that most folks in his circle thought Hemingway was a bit of a jerk. Nothing in here contradicts that notion. Does make me want to read Dos Passos, however.
July 17, 2020
I loved this detailed description of the friendship between Ernst Hemingway and John Dos Passos.
May 16, 2017
4.5 stars. Morris has written a well-researched, thoroughly readable twin-biography of the relationship between Hemingway and Dos Passos from their fleeting introduction to each other in a WWI ambulance corps to the eventual break in their friendship during the Spanish Civil War due to a combination of political disagreements and simmering personal hang-ups that sometimes played out on the pages of their printed works.
The book offers an excellent introduction to the background of both writers, giving enough information of their early lives to set the stage for events to come, while not overwhelming readers with dense details, as one might find in the extensive, 800-page biographies of the individual authors. Instead, Morris is concerned with relating the very human story of these two writers and the men and women who populated their lives. Of particular interest to me was Katy Dos Passos, a childhood friend of Hemingway who eventually married Dos Passos. Her life and ultimately tragic fate (which I didn't know about until I read this book) stuck with me, and caused me to want to read more about Dos Passos' life, if only to find out more about Katy, as well. Up to this point, I've only read Dos Passos' early works (One Man's Initiation: 1917, Three Soldiers, Manhattan Transfer, and the U.S.A. trilogy), but this book inspired me to pick up the Library of America edition of his nonfiction work, as well as the District of Columbia trilogy and Chosen Country . After reading these at some point, I'd also like to explore his biography, Dos Passos.
And I think that's what this book does so well (besides revealing the very human side of these writers): it gives a nice way for readers to continue exploring their works and lives. Morris' Postscript mentions this as one aim of the book, and I think he succeeds very well.
My one minor critique is that I think the ending felt a little rushed. We have a lot of great build-up in the first half of the book of the events leading to the eventual popular success and meeting of Hem and Dos, but then only a very few pages are devoted to the dissolution of their friendship. I was particularly interested in reading a few more details on the events surrounding Jose Robles. I realize there is an entire book on this incident (which I have owned for years but haven't had a chance to read!), but Morris suggests in the Postscript that there might be some factual issues with parts of that book. I only wish that those Spanish Civil War events had been fleshed out a little more. But that is a minor quibble, especially since there is a book devoted to just that, which Morris again lets readers know about to give them a chance to dig deeper into those details.
It's a well-written account, recommended for anyone interested in the Lost Generation or American modernism.
The book offers an excellent introduction to the background of both writers, giving enough information of their early lives to set the stage for events to come, while not overwhelming readers with dense details, as one might find in the extensive, 800-page biographies of the individual authors. Instead, Morris is concerned with relating the very human story of these two writers and the men and women who populated their lives. Of particular interest to me was Katy Dos Passos, a childhood friend of Hemingway who eventually married Dos Passos. Her life and ultimately tragic fate (which I didn't know about until I read this book) stuck with me, and caused me to want to read more about Dos Passos' life, if only to find out more about Katy, as well. Up to this point, I've only read Dos Passos' early works (One Man's Initiation: 1917, Three Soldiers, Manhattan Transfer, and the U.S.A. trilogy), but this book inspired me to pick up the Library of America edition of his nonfiction work, as well as the District of Columbia trilogy and Chosen Country . After reading these at some point, I'd also like to explore his biography, Dos Passos.
And I think that's what this book does so well (besides revealing the very human side of these writers): it gives a nice way for readers to continue exploring their works and lives. Morris' Postscript mentions this as one aim of the book, and I think he succeeds very well.
My one minor critique is that I think the ending felt a little rushed. We have a lot of great build-up in the first half of the book of the events leading to the eventual popular success and meeting of Hem and Dos, but then only a very few pages are devoted to the dissolution of their friendship. I was particularly interested in reading a few more details on the events surrounding Jose Robles. I realize there is an entire book on this incident (which I have owned for years but haven't had a chance to read!), but Morris suggests in the Postscript that there might be some factual issues with parts of that book. I only wish that those Spanish Civil War events had been fleshed out a little more. But that is a minor quibble, especially since there is a book devoted to just that, which Morris again lets readers know about to give them a chance to dig deeper into those details.
It's a well-written account, recommended for anyone interested in the Lost Generation or American modernism.
October 15, 2017
The Ambulance Drivers: Hemingway, Dos Passos, and a Friendship Made and Lost in War
by James McGrath Morris
Synopsis
After meeting for the first time on the front lines of World War I, two aspiring writers forge an intense twenty-year friendship and write some of America's greatest novels, giving voice to a "lost generation" shaken by war.
Eager to find his way in life and words, John Dos Passos first witnessed the horror of trench warfare in France as a volunteer ambulance driver retrieving the dead and seriously wounded from the front line. Later in the war, he briefly met another young writer, Ernest Hemingway, who was just arriving for his service in the ambulance corps. When the war was over, both men knew they had to write about it; they had to give voice to what they felt about war and life.
Their friendship and collaboration developed through the peace of the 1920s and 1930s, as Hemingway's novels soared to success while Dos Passos penned the greatest antiwar novel of his generation, Three Soldiers. In war, Hemingway found adventure, women, and a cause. Dos Passos saw only oppression and futility. Their different visions eventually turned their private friendship into a bitter public fight, fueled by money, jealousy, and lust.
Rich in evocative detail--from Paris cafes to the Austrian Alps, from the streets of Pamplona to the waters of Key West--The Ambulance Drivers is a biography of a turbulent friendship between two of the century's greatest writers, and an illustration of how war both inspires and destroys, unites and divides.
Review
There have been many books about Hemingway, most of them have portrayed Hemingway as a thief a liar and a spy, He led a very interesting life, he was a very hard person to retain as a friend as he took things very personally and saw slights where there weren't any until he added fuel to the fire.
The Ambulance Drivers: Hemingway, Dos Passos, and a Friendship Made and Lost in War is a biography that shows us how these two literary giants found friendship and lost it. Both men's lives traveled similar paths, both were ambulance drivers, war correspondents and later novelists.
The relationship between Hemingway and Dos Passos from their fleeting introduction to each other in a WWI ambulance corps to the eventual break in their friendship during the Spanish Civil War due to a combination of political disagreements and simmering personal hang-ups that sometimes played out on the pages of their printed works.
Hemingway was well known for using his friends as inspiration for his characters often resulting in hurt feelings and breakups. If the friend was a writer whose standing could be knocked down a peg or two, well then that was a bonus. As many before, Dos Passos became a target and was portrayed as the ineffectual writer Richard Gordon in To Have and Have Not.
Dos Passos modeled George Elbert Warner on Hemingway in Chosen Country.
This was a really interesting book, John Dos Passos was an American author who wrote The 42nd Parallel and The Manhattan Transfer and who in my opinion is an author who was just as prolific and in his time as successful as Hemingway, however over the years Hemingway has surpassed Dos Passos simply because he lived his life publically.
Interesting book 4 stars
by James McGrath Morris
Synopsis
After meeting for the first time on the front lines of World War I, two aspiring writers forge an intense twenty-year friendship and write some of America's greatest novels, giving voice to a "lost generation" shaken by war.
Eager to find his way in life and words, John Dos Passos first witnessed the horror of trench warfare in France as a volunteer ambulance driver retrieving the dead and seriously wounded from the front line. Later in the war, he briefly met another young writer, Ernest Hemingway, who was just arriving for his service in the ambulance corps. When the war was over, both men knew they had to write about it; they had to give voice to what they felt about war and life.
Their friendship and collaboration developed through the peace of the 1920s and 1930s, as Hemingway's novels soared to success while Dos Passos penned the greatest antiwar novel of his generation, Three Soldiers. In war, Hemingway found adventure, women, and a cause. Dos Passos saw only oppression and futility. Their different visions eventually turned their private friendship into a bitter public fight, fueled by money, jealousy, and lust.
Rich in evocative detail--from Paris cafes to the Austrian Alps, from the streets of Pamplona to the waters of Key West--The Ambulance Drivers is a biography of a turbulent friendship between two of the century's greatest writers, and an illustration of how war both inspires and destroys, unites and divides.
Review
There have been many books about Hemingway, most of them have portrayed Hemingway as a thief a liar and a spy, He led a very interesting life, he was a very hard person to retain as a friend as he took things very personally and saw slights where there weren't any until he added fuel to the fire.
The Ambulance Drivers: Hemingway, Dos Passos, and a Friendship Made and Lost in War is a biography that shows us how these two literary giants found friendship and lost it. Both men's lives traveled similar paths, both were ambulance drivers, war correspondents and later novelists.
The relationship between Hemingway and Dos Passos from their fleeting introduction to each other in a WWI ambulance corps to the eventual break in their friendship during the Spanish Civil War due to a combination of political disagreements and simmering personal hang-ups that sometimes played out on the pages of their printed works.
Hemingway was well known for using his friends as inspiration for his characters often resulting in hurt feelings and breakups. If the friend was a writer whose standing could be knocked down a peg or two, well then that was a bonus. As many before, Dos Passos became a target and was portrayed as the ineffectual writer Richard Gordon in To Have and Have Not.
Dos Passos modeled George Elbert Warner on Hemingway in Chosen Country.
This was a really interesting book, John Dos Passos was an American author who wrote The 42nd Parallel and The Manhattan Transfer and who in my opinion is an author who was just as prolific and in his time as successful as Hemingway, however over the years Hemingway has surpassed Dos Passos simply because he lived his life publically.
Interesting book 4 stars
June 17, 2021
The Ambulance Drivers is a very hard book to review, as it's neither a good book, nor a bad book. It's a decent book, but one that is hampered by the author's writing style. What should have been a fast-paced, attention -getting, page-turning thriller is a slow-paced, yawn-inducing book with a fascinating premise. The cast of characters is very long, and it's hard to keep some of them straight, since several of them go by nicknames, and the author also goes back and forth between referring to the characters by first name, last name, or nickname, making it hard to figure out who was who. For example, F. Scott Fitzgerald is referred to as both "Scott" and "Fitzgerald" in the same paragraph. I think I gave up keeping the characters straight less than halfway through, deciding that it wasn't worth figuring out who the person was.
The writing style is far too journalistic, turning sections that should have been fascinating into sections where the words and pages blurred together. The constant back and forth between Hemingway and Dos Passos meant I was never really sure who "he" was in any given section, and sometimes had to flip a few pages back to figure it out.
This is a fascinating look at the friendship between Hemingway and Dos Passos, and it's a fascinating look at life during and after the First World War, and into the Second World War. It's the sort of book that's frustrating because it could have been an amazing book that you can't put down, but it's not. It's decent. It's well-written, and it's interesting, but it wasn't attention-getting or gripping. It felt like an over long newspaper article, instead of the fascinating book it should have been.
If you like Hemingway, give this book a read, as it is a fascinating look into his character and how the War changed him into the author he became. And it helps return Dos Passos into the light he deserves, instead of the obscurity he's become.
The writing style is far too journalistic, turning sections that should have been fascinating into sections where the words and pages blurred together. The constant back and forth between Hemingway and Dos Passos meant I was never really sure who "he" was in any given section, and sometimes had to flip a few pages back to figure it out.
This is a fascinating look at the friendship between Hemingway and Dos Passos, and it's a fascinating look at life during and after the First World War, and into the Second World War. It's the sort of book that's frustrating because it could have been an amazing book that you can't put down, but it's not. It's decent. It's well-written, and it's interesting, but it wasn't attention-getting or gripping. It felt like an over long newspaper article, instead of the fascinating book it should have been.
If you like Hemingway, give this book a read, as it is a fascinating look into his character and how the War changed him into the author he became. And it helps return Dos Passos into the light he deserves, instead of the obscurity he's become.
April 8, 2019
Couple of things about this book bothered me. I did not like it when the author blithely states that Hemingway's first wife, Hadley, is responsible for Hemingway having an affair because Hadley introduced them. What the hell? So, anytime a woman introduces another woman to her husband she's saying to her husband it's okay to have an affair? What a dumbass statement.
The other thing that bothered me is how can you write a book that is at least 50% about Ernest Hemingway and his writing and success and not mention The Old Man and the Sea? I know that it was written a little later than the main time frame of this book but the author mentions other later books, articles, etc. so why not The Old Man and the Sea? Just seemed like a strange omission to me.
The other thing that bothered me is how can you write a book that is at least 50% about Ernest Hemingway and his writing and success and not mention The Old Man and the Sea? I know that it was written a little later than the main time frame of this book but the author mentions other later books, articles, etc. so why not The Old Man and the Sea? Just seemed like a strange omission to me.
June 3, 2023
This is the story of two authors. They were both volunteer ambulance drivers in WW I. They were both affected by this experience. They were both seen as exciting young American authors after WW I. They also became friends and Dos Passos married one of Hemingway’s former girlfriends. They both went to Spain to report on the Spanish Civil War. When a friend of Dos Passos, Jose Robles, was killed by the Communists, Hemingway did not believe it and failed to support Dos Passos. This irrevocably damaged their friendship. While Hemingway’s works are still read, Dos Passos seems to be a forgotten author. Perhaps, Hemingway accurately described Dos Passos’ literary failure. He said Dos Passos’ characters were symbols and not real people.
October 25, 2024
While this book was well written and well researched, it was also a disappointment in many ways. The offensive language was horrific. Ernest Hemingway appears to have been, from this account, a bitter, vengeful, vindictive sort. He also, apparently, was not loyal to any of his wives. The broken friendship between Hemingway and John Dos Passos was heartbreaking. Also, the book didn’t focus on the ambulance driving and the war as much as I expected. I would have enjoyed this book better if the language was significantly cleaner.
Content: alcohol, expletives, prostitutes, war violence, crude sexual content, profanity, replacement profanity, tobacco, Catholicism, suicide, bars, miscarriages, nudity, sexual immorality, derogatory terms, marital affairs
Content: alcohol, expletives, prostitutes, war violence, crude sexual content, profanity, replacement profanity, tobacco, Catholicism, suicide, bars, miscarriages, nudity, sexual immorality, derogatory terms, marital affairs
June 20, 2017
WOW! What a well researched, well written dual biography. Morris not only takes the reader through the lives and loves of Dos Passos and Hemingway, but addresses and educates the reader to the state of literature in the twenties and thirties and how the works of these two fit in and changed it. As in life, Hemingway still dominates the stage with his braggadocio 'manliness', but Dos Passos comes across as the thoughtful artist, trying to use his work to teach and motivate. Morris' research is thorough, his analysis is thoughtful and deep and his writing is clear and to the point. Well done and I highly recommend it.
January 4, 2023
4.5 Stars. Though I'm certain there must exist more comprehensive biographies of Hemingway but, not having read any myself previously, I found this one quite informative. The parallel narrative that shifts between Hemingway, Dos Passos, and their time spend together, is exceptionally cohesive, refracted through the dual prisms of both literature and war. The two men, whose lives seem inextricably linked both personally and professionally, were simultaneously close friends, literary rivals, socio-political opponents, and, alternately, allies. I found the book compelling, and, being unfamiliar with the works of John Dos Passos, this biography whetted my appetite to read his work.
August 9, 2017
Intriguing non-fiction book about Hemingway and Dos Passos, confirming that Hemingway turned into an SOB. the number of "paths crossed" is amazing (i.e., Fitzgerald, Stein, et al.,), but not sure how much of the reporting in the book is projection vs. documentation. I've never read any Dos Passos, and not sure I will, but the way the lives of the two authors crossed is amazing.
April 23, 2018
While I think another book about Hemmingway is a good think, I think a book about Dos Passos is an even better thing! I wasn't a huge fan of the narriation of this book, however, I throughly enjoyed learning about the personal details of Hemmingway and Dos Passos' lives. Would recommend to Hemmingway fans and those interested in the generation of authors writing about WWI.
August 6, 2020
If you are interested in authors of the "lost generation" and the 1920s and 30s, the period between the two world wars, this study of the lives of Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos during that time will be of interest. If however, you have read biographies of these two authors, you'll find nothing new here.
January 29, 2021
This is the rare nonfiction book that reads like a novel. Descriptions of the two writers' experience of war is devastating and their travels through Spanish villages and european landscapes like picture postcards. I am not surprised, but disappointed to learn that Hemingway comes off as is a jerk. A wonderful portrait of a complicated, somewhat toxic, masculine and competitive friendship.
March 17, 2018
McGrath writes a well researched history that always brings an element of surprise with it. The stories are engaging and engrossing and always enjoyable and this one was an excellent example of all that.
January 14, 2019
Incredibly well researched and well documented. There also are some great narrative decisions that greatly enhance the writing. Very well done all around. Should be a standard for biographies of writers.
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