This is America in the boom years of the 1920s: hog-wild material prosperity rules the land and cripples the national life.

"Dos Passos' subject is indeed democracy, but his belief-- especially as he goes into the final volume of his trilogy--is that the force of circumstances that is 20th century life is too strong for the average man, who will probably never rise above mass culture, mass superstition, or mass slogans." --Alfred Kazin, from the introduction