Follow the Chums of Chance as they travel via airship (sometimes through the interior of the earth) to the Chicago world’s fair, Iceland, Italy, Austria, and basically everywhere on various missions of observation/reconnaissance.

Along with the Chums, the novel more-or-less centers around three families (Traverse, Webb, and Vibe) as their lives become intertwined in commerce and worker’s rights, and eventually, what becomes the leading motivation for most characters, layer-upon-layer of revenge. The anarchist movements of the day (set from 1893 until just after WWI), including those in Colorado, drive the action as dynamite and bombs are set to gain attention and basic human rights from corrupt owners. As it develops and things escalate, Pynchon shows the natural end of capitalism and its inherent need to consume absolutely everything (the destruction of all available resources and our world).

God damn. If you’re American and haven’t yet done so, please read this book (and if you’re not American, it’s still worth a read). I think it’s best if you go in, like I did, not knowing too much of what happens. That said, from a high level, Bigger Thomas, a poor black man, gets a job driving for a rich white family and is slowly pulled into contact with communists before a terrible sequence of events unfolds.

I have no general interest in ancient Rome, the emperors, or their political intrigues. No, I learned a bit about those things over the years and have been happy to leave it at that, but this book pulls you into said world with such ease that I think you’ll enjoy the ride even if, like me, you don’t particularly care about the setting because this book is the work of a master, and it appears to be his masterpiece.