In a collection of essays going back thirty years, Dos Passos traces his faith in individual freedom through history. “The basic tragedy my work tries to express, “the author explains, “seems to remain monotonously the same: man’s struggle for life against the strangling institution he himself creates.”

Based on The Theme Is Freedom, critic Orville Prescott calls Dos Passos “a brilliant writer with an impressive flair for striking pictorial images…He not only cares passionately about people, causes, and problems; he also needs to act. Throughout his life he has plunged into affairs.”