Three Soldiers

John Dos Passos's second novel, Three Soldiers, was published in 1921 after many rejections from publishers and censorship squabbles. The novel, which was hailed as a masterpiece on its original publication, stands as one of the most grimly honest portraits of World War I. This anti-war novel focuses on three soldiers, Fuselli, an Italian American store clerk from San Francisco; Chrisfield, a farm boy from Indiana; and Andrews, a musically gifted Harvard graduate from New York-who endure long waits in the trenches punctuated by terrifying firefights filled with poison gas. The military strategy of the direct frontal assault combined with the use of airplanes, grenades, and mustard gas as military weapons assures mutual destruction. Three Soldiers explores fear and ambition, conformity and rebellion, desertion and violence in the context of impossible circumstances. The book remains a towering testament to the brutal and dehumanizing effects of a regimented war machine on ordinary soldiers. This Warbler Classics edition includes a detailed biographical timeline.