You Gotta Live

London: Desmond Harmsworth, 1932. First edition. 382 pp. Publisher's red cloth, spine lettered in black, with the dust jacket. Very slightly cocked, corners slightly rubbed, boards very slightly bowed. The jacket shows some minor soiling, spine darkened, pink dampstain to upper corner of front panel (showing more on verso) with very slight offsetting to front board; small gouge mark to lower edge of front panel, with tape repair to verso; lower corner of font flap torn with some loss to blurb text. Despite these overdescribed issues, the jacket presents well and is very scarce in any condition.

You Gotta Live is Bob Brown's fictionalized account of his travels in Mexico and South America after fleeing the United States in 1917 in the wake of the country entering World War I and the ensuing Espionage and Sedition Acts targeting radicals, "sympathizers," bohemians, and those with avant-garde leanings. Brown's wife Rose had worked with Emma Goldman, and Brown himself was known for his love of German pilsners, which at the time was enough to arouse suspicion. With a friend, Allen Norton, Bob and Rose formed a self-proclaimed faux army unit dubbed "Battery J" and set out for Mexico. Once there they spent time with other "slackers" (as those exiles were called), including, for a time, Mina Loy and Arthur Cravan (whose final departure was from the port of Salina Cruz). The preface, "Battery J," is written in Brown's "readies" style- short bursts separated by dashes- while the rest of the novel is in a more straightforward realistic mode.