“Johnny Got His Gun” was the first book I recall which made me weep. I read it during high school because I was infatuated with the music video for “One” by Metallica which pulled its inspiration directly from the story and the video from the film. At the time, I remember being so impressed with the premise of a boy shipping off to war and coming back missing any ability to communicate, losing all his limbs, and wanting to end it all. Powerful stuff.

I was not aware of any of Trumbo’s autobiographical details until watching this trailer but now I’m really intrigued. Apparently he was put on trial by the Communist community and then spent his time writing for Hollywood under pseudonymns, going as far as to win a Screenplay Oscar which went unclaimed, the only Oscar ever to remain unclaimed. What a firebrand!

And here is a link to the Metallica video featuring footage from the film version of “Johnny Got His Gun.”