Eclipse - Softcover

In Eclipse Mr. Dalton Trumbo has done more than write a well-constructed, interesting novel of modern life. He has by the implications of his story criticized the ethics, social and commercial, of the average American city. John Abbott, in his later days calls for our pity; but he received none—with a single exception—from the many people he had benefited.
Once his prestige began to fail, the men and women he had so unselfishly helped turned against him. And in his treatment of that desertion lies the substance of Trumbo’s attack. It is true one of his minor characters, Hermann Vogel, is used to give voice to what are presumably the author’s own opinions, but his analyses are less effective than the inevitable development of the story.
Mr. Trumbo is evidently an admirer of Sinclair Lewis’s novels and may possibly qualify, one day, to succeed him.??

—An unsigned review in the Times Literary Supplement upon the 1935 publication of Eclipse

In this fascinating novel by award-winning Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, the town of Shale City is the setting for a scathing examination of excess in the American West. Filled with lively characters, vivid description, and wry dialogue, this fast-paced story traces the rise and fall of John Abbott, a wealthy local businessman and town patriarch in the 1920s and 1930s. As a generous philanthropist, Abbott was heralded as a hero by the townspeople when times were good. But as the stock market crashes and the Great Depression hits, the town turns upon Abbott when his fortunes fade. Exposed is the darker side of small-town life. 

Trumbo, who would later be called to testify before Congress (and was subsequently jailed and blacklisted as a member of the so-called Hollywood Ten during the McCarthy-era Red Scare), skillfully plants early warning signs in Eclipse about the political climate of the decades to come. 

Considered scandalous and controversial at the time of its initial release, Eclipse draws heavily from Trumbo’s own boyhood experiences in Grand Junction, Colorado, and many of the characters are based on real-life citizens from that time. Over time it has come to be regarded as an honest and candid depiction of the way life really is in a small town America.

Readers interested in related titles from Dalton Trumbo will also want to see: Time of the Toad (ISBN: 9781635610970), Time of the Toad (ISBN: 9781635610970), Time of the Toad (ISBN: 9781635610970).