The Big Money

This is America in the boom years of the 1920 hog-wild material prosperity rules the land and cripples the national life. “Dos Passos’ subject is indeed democracy, but his belief– especially as he goes into the final volume of his trilogy–is that the force of circumstances that is 20th century life is too strong for the average man, who will probably never rise above mass culture, mass superstition, or mass slogans.” –Alfred Kazin, from the introduction