U.S.a.

(Paperback)

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In this brilliantly experimental trilogy, Dos Passos uses 'Camera Eye' and 'Newsreel' sections to create a fragmented yet naturalistic atmosphere. Through the testimony of numerous characters, both fictional and historical figures, he builds up a composite picture of American society in the first quarter of the twentieth century.Richly detailed and throbbing with vitality, U.S.A. vividly evokes that uncertain period when America, so full of ideals and potential, was slowly and painfully abandoning the Great American Dream.

Reviews

The biggest influence was a novel my father gave me to read at the age of about 13, U.S.A. by John Dos Passos. At that age, it just got me. You can trace back everything I do to that novel because it's all about the relationship between grand history and individual experience. And it's a collage with quotes from newsreels, cinema, and newspapers-a collage of history. That's where I get it all from. -- Adam Curtis (filmmaker)