Before anyone else declares that the art of letter-writing is lost in contemporary America, he had better read this volume of Dalton Trumbo's correspondence ["Additional Dialogue"]…. In his 64 years [Trumbo] has known quite a life—the munificently paid screen writer of hits like "Kitty Foyle" and "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo," author of the grim novel "Johnny Got His Gun," devoted paterfamilias, prisoner No. 7551 at the Federal Corre...

The correspondence collected in Additional Dialogue is largely the record of the aftermath of [Dalton Trumbo's] appearance before his Congressional inquisitors. For Mr. Trumbo, the question was how to survive—economically and morally—through the first decade of the Cold War, the McCarthy period, and the years of slow-motion while the silent generation was holding its tongue. The letters are evidence that he survived very well, despite official and amateur persecution that might well hav...

["The Remarkable Andrew"] includes two remarkable Andrews—one, young Andrew Long of Shale City, Col., and the other General Andrew Jackson. The tale combines stiff doses of the literal and the fantastical which effervesce into a high-powered satirical cocktail. As a means for Mr. Trumbo to blow off steam about the present bewildering condition of local and world affairs, young Andrew is put through a very curious experience. An honest, hardworking, sane young clerk in the offices of the...