John Dos Passos was born in a hotel in Chicago and referred to himself as a "hotel child." He attended Harvard where he studied architecture and wrote for the school newspaper. During World War I, Dos Passos served as an ambulance driver and kept journals that he later used for his novels. He is best known for his trilogy U.S.A., published in the 1930s, which portrayed the corruption of modern American society through experimental literary techniques.

1. By: Scott Naumann