PositiveThe Washington Independent Review of BooksWhile the narrative is a bit slow to start as the early biographies of both authors are outlined, by the middle of the book, the unruly cast of modern characters is fully assembled, and the story hits a perfect stride. Morris is masterful in his weaving of the Hemingway and Dos Passos timelines, with their knitted stories reaching a startling crescendo in the epilogue ... The excerpted quotes from Hemingway and Dos Passos’ letters are an absolute riot ... Morris is adept at making the historical record lifelike, giving a palpable sense of the climate in which these modern writers were forged. Nuanced details support the larger point about these artists: They lived, composed, and managed to thrive in an incredibly difficult world of censorship and editorial challenge.
