Often reprinted with Dos Passos' other two early novels written between 1920 and 1925, "One Man's Initiation: 1917" is a scathing indictment of the horror of war. As the "Great War" inspired much great poetry, including that of Siegfried Sassoon and Robert Graves, so did it inspire compelling prose. John Dos Passos volunteered to drive an ambulance in France during the First World War. The brutality of his experiences turned him against not only war, but capitalism, and inspired him to write "One Man's Initiation: 1917.