Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140180516 ISBN 13: 9780140180510

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd, 1991

The author uses "camera eye" and "newsreel" sections to create a fragmented yet naturalistic atmosphere. The testimony of the numerous characters, both fictional and historical, gradually builds up a composite picture of American society in the first quarter of the 20th century.

Review:

The biggest influence was a novel my father gave me to read at the age of about 13, U.S.A. by John Dos Passos. At that age, it just got me. You can trace back everything I do to that novel because it's all about the relationship between grand history and individual experience. And it's a collage with quotes from newsreels, cinema, and newspapers-a collage of history. That's where I get it all from. -- Adam Curtis (filmmaker)