One of his most anthologized, most quoted passages from a long, full life of letters. It tells succinctly the American Dream’s broken promise, and now it appears in The Wall Street Journal.

What a splendid way to end the year! Yesterday, The New Yorker published a re-appraisal of John Dos Passos’ U.S.A. trilogy.

From the staff at Ultimate Classic Rock: “I think in the three years between Born to Run and Darkness, he’d [Bruce Springsteen] simply learned a lot.

On this day, 1970, writer John Dos Passos died in Baltimore, MD. He and my grandmother had an apartment there.

People have complained before that Dos Passos’ U.S.A. trilogy is hard to read, beyond just the length. I get it.

I’ve been re-reading The 42nd Parallel. It might be the 3rd or 4th reading. I’m nearly finished. With this reconsideration of the work, I was hoping to come into wisdom, and I think I did.

Happy Independence Day! Whitman was a strong influence on John Dos Passos. I’ve nearly finishing reading Leaves of Grass and then I’m on to Democratic Vistas.

It’s been a remarkable couple years for the John Dos Passos legacy. I feel so fortunate to have witnessed it.

Never seen this cover art before. Pretty awesome. Very much in keeping with the monolithic societal forces at work in the novels.