Two star-crossed lovers--Enza and Ciro--meet and separate, until, finally, the power of their love changes both of their lives forever. Set during the years preceding and during World War I.

Unique among American novels for its epic scope and panoramic social sweep, John Dos Passos' U.S.A. has long been acknowledged as a monument of modern fiction. In the novels that make up the trilogy -- The 42nd Parallel (1930), 1919 (1932), and The Big Money (1936) -- Dos Passos creates a collective portrait of America in the first three decades of the 20th century, shot through with sardonic comedy and social observation. He interweaves the careers...