Book 1: The March, The Song, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Summary and Analysis

The March concerns the Bonus March of 1932, in which veterans of the first World War protest in Washington for their delayed bonuses. Jim Sheridan is not a veteran, but having hear about the march from a friend he decides to join in support. Sheridan rides with a group of vets in a boxcar. En route, one of the vets' children dies of smoke inhalation. Arriving in DC, he finds large shanty-towns—Hoovervilles—set up throughout town, inhabited by vets. They are squatting in abandoned office flats. Eventually, Hoover sends MacArthur himself—aided by a young Dwight Eisenhower—to disperse the crowds. Over the next couple days, the veterans are assailed with guns, bayonets bludgeons, tear gas, and...