| The Great Days Contributor(s): Dos Passos, John (Author) |
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ISBN: 1504015541 ISBN-13: 9781504015547 Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media LLC OUR PRICE: $12.34 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: September 2015 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Fiction | Romance - Historical - 20th Century - Fiction | Political |
| Dewey: 813.52 |
| Physical Information: 0.59" H x 5.5" W x 8.5" (0.73 lbs) 258 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 20th Century |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: In this semi-autobiographical novel, an American named Roland Lancaster has a doomed affair with a younger woman, Elsa, in Cuba during World War II. The love story, in its happiest moments, parallels the idyllic life that author John Dos Passos had with his first wife, Katy. The Great Days plots a key concern of the author's in the 1950s--America's rise to global prominence during World War II, and its loss of power in the years following the peace. In preparing the novel, Dos Passos studied James V. Forrestal, Secretary of Defense from 1947 to 1949. In his notes on the novel, he quotes Forrestal: "to achieve accommodation between the power we now possess, our reluctance to use it positively, the realistic necessity for such use, and our national ideals." |
Contributor Bio(s): Dos Passos, John: - John Roderigo Dos Passos (b.1896, d.1970) was a writer, painter, and political activist. He wrote over forty books, including plays, poetry, novels, biographies, histories, and memoirs. He crafted over four hundred drawings, watercolors, and other artworks. Dos Passos considered himself foremost a writer of contemporary chronicles. He chose the moniker of "chronicler" because he was happiest working at the edge of fiction and nonfiction. Both genres benefited from his mastery of observation--his "camera eye"--and his sense of historical context. Dos Passos sought to ground fiction in historic detail and working-class, realistic dialogue. He invented a multimedia format of newsreels, songs, biographies, and autobiography to convey the frenzy of 20th century America's industrialism and urbanism. His most memorable fiction--Three Soldiers (1920), Manhattan Transfer (1925), U.S.A. (1938)--possesses the authority of history and the allure of myth. Likewise, he sought to vitalize nonfiction history and reportage with the colors, sounds, and smells documented on his journeys across the globe. |