With 1919, the second volume of his U.S.A. trilogy, John Dos Passos
continues his vigorous and sweeping panorama of twentieth-century America
(Forum), lauded on publication of the first volume not only for its scope,
but also for its groundbreaking style. Again, employing a host of
experimental devices that would inspire a whole new generation of writers
to follow, Dos Passos captures the many textures, flavors, and background
noises of modern life with a cinematic touch and unparalleled nerve. 1919
opens to find America and the world at war, and Dos Passos's characters,
many of whom we met in the first volume, are thrown into the snarl. We
follow the daughter of a Chicago minister, a wide-eyed Texas girl, a young
poet, a radical Jew, and we glimpse Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, and
the Unknown Soldier.