Chapter 1 Summary

In a future America, after the third great war, machines have taken all dignity from the working man. Doctor Paul Proteus is an up-and-coming engineer and manager who is in charge of the Ilium Works. His father helped establish the machines that now run the economy, and Paul is slated to follow in his footsteps. Paul, though, is overcome with doubts about the new world his father imagined, and his doubts make him vulnerable. Before he knows it, he's lost his wife and his job, and he's been conscripted as the leader of the revolution of man against machine.

The novel begins with a description of Ilium, New York, which is divided into three areas. One area is the Ilium Works, the great manufacturing plant that generates goods. The second is where all the managers and engineers who run the plant live, and...