Chapter One Summary

Eugene Debs Hartke is born into a very liberal Indiana family in America in 1940. He is named after a famous socialist presidential candidate Eugene Debs who, although he failed in his bid, became one of the highest vote earners ever in American political history for the sheer number of votes he received as a third party candidate. Eugene hates his parents because he feels they have betrayed their own ideals and live for material comfort only. His father forces Eugene to attend West Point Military Academy despite Eugene's lack of desire. The result is that Eugene becomes an officer during the Vietnam War in the 1960s and orders the deaths of many thousands of people during the war. His parents die in a freakish accident while he is overseas when a curio shop at Niagara Falls collapses, killing them. Worse, from...