Trumbo's best legacy. I suspect that the letters to his children may be the finest and funniest ever written by a father. Many of the best letters are addressed to creditors, auto dealers, the phone company - "Dear Burglars . . .", hospitals and contractors. Long out of print - you can still find the tattered dark green paperback for $1.25 at used book sellers.

Peter Hanson has done a marvelous job of giving Dalton Trumbo - one Hollywood's greatest and gutsiest screenwriters - the credit he is due. This couldn't have been an easy task for Hanson, since Trumbo was astonishingly prolific and many of his screenplays - including the masterworks ROMAN HOLIDAY, SPARTACUS, and LONELY ARE THE BRAVE - have for decades been credited to other writers. Hanson sets the record straight and gives us a fascinating portrait of man who not only defied the House Committee on Un-American Activities, but survived the ensuing blacklist years through courage, perseverance and talent. Hanson provides a keen, in-depth exploration of Trumbo's vast, eclectic body of work, and shows how Trumbo's struggles forged the powerful themes that pervade his films.

if this book could be summed up in 1 word it would be fantastic. this book is just as good as the movie.if you whant a great book to read at any time this is the right book for you..this book is surely worth five stars..

Dalton Trumbo,known mostly for his screen plays and for his
role as part of the Holywood Ten,was also a wonderfull and deeply
compationet writer.
Sadly , he died before compleating this book,so that we only get
a glimps of the amazing work this would have been.
The first ten chapters are compleat and deeply,disturbingly moving.The notes for the rest of the book and the compleat synopsis give a clear idea of the noval as the author intendede it to be. Give it a chance!

I read this book once a year and have since I was a little rocker boy who wanted to know more behind the Metallica song, "One." I have grown quite a bit since then and each time I read the simple book, it has a bit more meaning.

Overall the common idea I get from the book is "as a soldier, who's war am I fighting?" The book points towards politicans and policy makers as the reason Joe is over there. Consequently, the book would point this as the reason behind every war since WWI. It's an idea, and should be seen as that. It's not doctrine, but it's an interesting idea. Just another one to have logged in the back of your head for those future stimulating conversations on the necessity of the military, politicians and/or war.

JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN is extremely raw and realistic. Dalton Trumbo's gut- wrenching look at war is very captivating. The plot reveals a war described as a journey to sacrifice, the road to hell, odyssey of suffering, and as a bloody mess. This book is Dalton Trumbo's best work ever. It is a must-read for anyone who has not seen the trials and tribulations of a war vet. Trumbo gives a multi-faceted in-depth at one man's suffering. The soldier comes out of war remembering the repugnant stench of combat, While traumatized and disabled in the hospital, the smell of memories past and his life's distorted direction haunts him. Even though it was written over thirty years ago his rotted view on war remains relevant today. Even if you have not lost a loved one to war this book will make you feel as if you have. As a person with partial paralysis and muscle atrophy, I identify with the soldier and recognize that Dalton Trumbo is an empathetic genius who captures the rage and feelings in a handicapped war vet's struggle to live life.

Trumbo gives a truly horrid account of one mans experience in World War I. This novel flashes between the happy, careless prewar life of an American boy and the grim life he leads afterwards. Trumbo exposes war as the raw, inhumane act that it is. Moreover, "Johnny Got His Gun" convinces the reader that very little, if anything, is worth the price of sacrificing countless bodies to win a war.

"Nothing is bigger than life. There's nothing noble in death. What's noble about never seeing the sunshine again? What's noble about having your legs and arms blown off? What's noble about being an idiot? What's noble about being blind and deaf and dumb? What's noble about being dead?"

Trumbo questions the basic assumptions for which patriotic Americans send their boys off to die and makes the reader question whether any war can be fully justified for the societal costs it requires. Though it was published in 1939, the ideas and feelings it conveys are universal. After reading this, I, as an American, questioned the military involvement of most conflicts our nation has been a part of in the last hundred years. It is an eye-opener and it will really make you reconsider the next time you think this country should go to war. . .