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).

I’ve been reading Century’s Ebb lately and I had the chance to read a remarkable piece, “Christmas on the Moon.” The idealism there about the Apollo program reminds me of the film Apollo 13 and its beautiful score by James Horner.