John Roderigo Dos Passos (1896 - 1970) was an American novelist and artist active in the first half of the twentieth century. Born in Chicago, Illinois, he graduated from Harvard College in 1916. He was well-traveled, visiting Europe and the Middle East, where he learned about literature, art and architecture. During World War I, he was a member of the American Volunteer Motor Ambulance Corps in Paris and in Italy, later joining the U.S. Army Medical Corps. In 1920 Dos Passos' first novel, One Man's Initiation: 1917 was published and in 1925 his novel, Manhattan Transfer, became a commercial success. In 1928, he went to the Soviet Union to study socialism and later became a leading participant in the 1935 First American Writers Congress sponsored by the communist-leaning League of American Writers. He was in Spain in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War, when the murder of his friend José Robles soured his attitude toward communism and led to severing his relationship with fellow writer Ernest Hemingway.
Narrator George Guidall valiantly brings out the beauty of this American classic (first published in 1921). Three Soldiers' eloquent expression arises from Dos Passos's deep conviction; it's one of the most realistic accounts of military service in France during World War I. The author's concern with individual freedom and "life" rather than mere "existence" as a cog in the military machine is paramount. Military tactics, strategy, or international politics never enter the picture. Dos Passos uses the stories of three young men from all parts of the country to show the courage each must attain to face life, the ultimate reality, not death. And life is the refusal to surrender to dehumanized power. A heartening recording, for all collections.‘James Dudley, Copiague, N.Y.
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