Lippincott, New York, 1939. cloth. First US Edition. Signed by the author.
309pp: Trumbo's classic anti-war novel had a complicated history. It created quite a stir before WWII when anti-war senitment was strong. It won an American Bookseller's award in 1940 and was serialized in the Communist Party's Daily Worker But it began to run into opposition after the War actually broke out in September 1939, and even moreso from within the Left in 1941: The Communist Party of the US had promoted the book as part of its campaign against war, but spun to a reversal after the invasion of Russia in 1941 (Moscow was suddenly not in favor of pacifism); Trumbo and his publishers agreed then to suspend reprinting. The book was ultimately taken off the market after Pearl Harbor later that year. The present copy is bound in yellow cloth with black lettering; no marks or stains but lacking its dustjacket. SIGNED BY TRUMBO in pencil on the ffep. A minor amount of finger soiling; very lightly fraying at the top of the spine. very good.

[Item #20556]