An interesting, engaging, historical fiction novel set in the USA. The book has four threads, three being non fiction. The fourth thread includes the narratives of five men and women. Joe Williams, a seaman, (a main character in 'The 42nd Parallel), still a wayfarer, adrift with the times, still drinking and womanising; Richard Savage, a Harvard graduate and WWI ambulance driver in France; Eveline Hutchins, friend of Eleanor Stoddard, (character in 'The 42nd Parallel'), working in Paris, loving the wrong man; Anna Trent, ('Daughter'), from Texas, adventurous, naive; and Bill Compton, a down trodden union organiser. All ordinary characters who are not interested in starting a family.

The other three, much shorter non fiction modes of address are ‘The Camera Eye’ where the author writes about his own life experiences is a little difficult to comprehend. ‘Newsreels’ which are actual headlines from newspapers of the time, fragments of news stories, advertising slogans and popular song lyrics. The third mode of address is brief lives of some of the important characters of the times including Jack Reed, Randolph Bourne, Theodore Roosevelt, Paxton Hibben, Thomas Woodrow Wilson, J.P. Morgan, Joe Hill and Paul Bunyan.

A interesting portrayal of the USA in the late 1910s. Dos Passos certainly writes with a feeling of anger for the exploited, poverty stricken working class man. Whilst there is no plot, there is good reading momentum. Each character’s life is eventful.

A satisfying, interesting reading experience.

This book was first published in 1932 and is the second book in a trilogy titled ‘USA’.

Dos Passos second novel isn't quite as good, in my opinion, even if it's working around a heavier subject. I think that while the elevation of some supporting characters in the first novel like Joe and Eveline to main characters is interesting (particularly since they're more intriguing), they also end up with some newer characters (like Ben, Dick, & Daughter) that feel repetitive to characters we already know. The prose are solid, and the final biography (of the Unknown Soldier) maybe the best of the series so far, but I didn't feel as gripped as the first book, even if I read it largely in one sitting.

A Sequel As Great As The First One

1919 chronicles America from coast to coast beforeduringandafter World War One. (Yes, John Dos Passos runs his words together sometimes.) And he tracks the challenges for various Americans as they seek work, or party all night. Not just stateside but around Europe during the War. The tale of labor protesters gunned down in Everett and Centralia, Washington, is especially grim but accurate. The USA Trilogy is as important a work about America as the writings of de Tocqueville, Walt Whitman, or Carl Sandburg. I’m glad I’m finally reading this amazing work.

This book of trilogy just kind of bogged down to me. I started losing sight of who all these different people were in the book and some just faded together. I lost some of their backstory by having that many different "stories" going on. I liked the first book better, maybe it had more going on or more clear differences going on. I felt everyone in this book was in Europe, involved with the Red Cross or some organization, traveling around to Paris or Rome. Talking about peace coming any minute now. All the dudes are trying to sleep with the women characters, then going and sleeping with prostitutes when they get rejected. Some are fans of socialism some are not.. I just feel it was a big muddled mess. I'm contemplating whether to go to the 3rd book but chances are I will because I'm stubborn and a glutton for punishment. :)

This volume covers up to and through the WWI years. How most folks were gung ho, how the socialists types were against the war, and how oppressive the government can be against those who try to speak against the war.

What I wrote on the style for the Trilogy:

Must admit, don't think I ever heard of Dos Passos until I started reading this trilogy for the ML100, but glad I did. Easy reading format, historical context, and I do like history, about the interesting early part of the century in of course, the USA.

Each chapter is titled with a character's name and each evolves, through their own eyes, and when paths cross, through others. Most characters are carried onto the other books. Supposedly the books can be read on their own, but I think you would always wonder what you missed. For me the stories were compelling and I couldn't stop reading about them.

Between chapters DP sometimes has a couple pages about a famous person of the era. Some stood the test of history & we know them today, Edison, but some are more obscure and those to me were the more interesting ones.

Another item between chapters are bits of text from newsreels of the day. They give the setting of the times
and to me show how the news is totally unrelated to every day life.

Yet another item is the Camera Eye, which shows some activity that is going on with a person, but to me is out of context so doesn't add much to the story.

Before flaming out of grad school, I ended up reading The Big Money, book three of Dos Passos' USA Trilogy, and had favorable impressions colored by the fact that I kinda sucked at literary analysis. Still do, so, bear with me.
1919, the second part of the trilogy, is a masterwork of modern American realism. Very much a product of its time (written in 1932 after the roar of the Twenties had faded) and of Dos Passos' political views, it is one of those books everyone should try to read if you want to have an idea of American Literature in the 1920s-30s beyond The Great Gatsby.

”If they thought the war was lousy, wait till they see the peace!“

The middle section of Dos Passos’s epic USA trilogy, 1919, ironically is mainly staged outside of America. It opens with America at war in Europe, and most of the book’s action happens overseas.

Focus is shifted to a new set of Everyman protagonists, though they often closely interact with those already introduced in The 42nd Parallel. The impact of the Great War and the convoluted peace process that followed it are the major themes. Despite this focus on the war, it’s not really a war novel. Dos Passos’s focus is on non-combatants — Red Cross workers, Ambulance Corp, merchant marine, and back line officers. Ironically, the place where he mostly shows vicious violence is back in the USA where government and business allied to murderously exterminate the Wobblies and hopes and rights of labor.

1919 isn’t a stand alone work, of course. It’s the continuation of Dos Passos’s epic collage-novel. As in The 42nd Parallel, the narrative is constantly broken up with Newsreels, with the author’s stream of consciousness Camera’s Eye, and with the mini bios of prominent figures. (Jack Reed, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, J.P. Morgan, and Joe Hill are covered here, as is The Unknown Soldier.) Once again, audiobook is the ideal medium to fully appreciate this experimental style.

More American lives. WW1 is a strangely bloodless interlude in the rise of corporations and organized labor.

Brilliant like the previous part of the series.

Yes, the characters mixed up sometimes in my head, but it didn't matter much, because to me (as to John Dos Passos) characters weren't the most important heroes.

In my opinion, Dos Passos told more and deeper than more popular contemporary to him authors.

David Drummond was a splendid narrator, his singing was priceless - reading those parts wouldn't have been the same.

Rereading USA after many years; finished the first volume a few days ago and raced into reading the 2nd, which follows the build-up to WW I until shortly after the Armistice and the Peace Conference. The characters reflect a variety of reactions to the War (as I assume did the American public) from those who are enthusiastic (few in this book) to those utterly opposed. We follow some of the same characters from the first book as they enlist, or join the Red Cross as ambulance drivers. However they participate, they sure a drinking and screwing A LOT. Of interest is the lack of birth control or accessible abortions - I think few novels about that time give any but the slightest attention to the plight of couples (let's be honest, almost entirely the women) who become pregnant.
Fascinating reading- but I found myself less engaged than on reading the first volume. I'll take a break before reading Vol 3.

Volume #2 of John Dos Passos, painting in words the American journey during World War I. His brush strokes on this palette are the interrelated characters of his novel and how they react to the times in which they lived with their eyes and emotions. A time almost a hundred years ago. In reading his work you experience the timbre of the moment, see the differences of that era to ours and also the similarities in the world around us even today. His work is similar to James Michener's epic novels.

Actual rating : 2.5/5

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be but I found some parts to be excruciatingly boring...
The characters were so out of control, I mean they were easily offended and hurt and their reactions didn't feel natural at all.
The only parts that were a little bit interesting to me were the ones about Dick, Evelyne and the biographies...
I still don't get the "Camera Eye" parts...

Not something I would re-read but not a disaster either.