Apollo 11

Except for Midcentury (1961), my grandfather John Dos Passos had great trouble selling books and earning critical acclaim with his books after the U.S.A trilogy (1938). Yet, contrary to the critical consensus that still damages his legacy, his pen did not suddenly and irrevocably become inert from 1938-1970. Some of his last works were his finest, including “Christmas on the Moon,” a selection from his book Century’s Ebb. “Christmas on the Moon” is his tribute to the Apollo program. So I’m excited to see the new Apollo 11 documentary today, and consider what inspiration he and many others took from that moonshot. Dos Passos was an explorer and explorers of the Earth and beyond were his heroes.