in a totally original first novel thats as american as whitney ottos how to make an american quilt as satisfying as laura esquivels like water for chocolate stone tells the story of a womans hunt for the essential ingredients in a cluttered world a mock cookbook for our culture a searing novel exposing the fate of the common soldier during world war i driven by the idealism that infected many young americans at the time including ernest hemingway author john dos passos joined the ambulance corps his rapid and profound disillusionment forms the core of this fierce denouncement of the military and of the farreaching social implications of its exploitation of young men 400 pp