U.S.A.: The 42nd Parallel; Nineteen Nineteen [1919]; The Big Money (The Library of America Series Book 85) [Trilogy]

New York: The Library of America, 1996. First Thus. Hard Cover. Near Fine/Near Fine. 5x1x8. First thus. Includes publisher's slipcase. Minor smudge to top slipcase edge, otherwise an excellent copy. 1996 Hard Cover. 1288 pp. Original red cloth, gilt titles and rules, ribbon marker bound in. The U.S.A. Trilogy is a major work of American writer John Dos Passos, comprising the novels The 42nd Parallel (1930), 1919, also known as Nineteen Nineteen (1932), and The Big Money (1936). The three books were first published together in a single volume titled U.S.A by Harcourt Brace in January, 1938. The trilogy employs an experimental technique, incorporating four different narrative modes: fictional narratives telling the life stories of twelve fictional characters; collages of newspaper clippings and song lyrics labeled 'Newsreel'; individually labeled short biographies of public figures of the time such as Woodrow Wilson and Henry Ford; and fragments of autobiographical stream of consciousness writing labeled 'Camera Eye.' The trilogy covers the historical development of American society during the first three decades of the twentieth century. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked U.S.A. Trilogy 23rd on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. This edition is part of the Library of America series, published by a non-profit organization whose goal is to keep classic works of American literature and history in print as a way of preserving cultural heritage.