In 1998 it was reprinted as part of the series "The Radical Novel Reconsidered" by the University of Illinois Press.

[4] The novel tells the story of Benedict Bulmanis, son of an immigrant Lithuanian steelworker, who feels called to the Roman Catholic priesthood, but is torn by local political events as steelworkers struggle to organize in the face of corporate expansion.

Banks and millowners plan to clear land in the Monongahela River Valley for a new steel mill, but it means forcing workers from their homes.

This expansion and technological upgrading will increase production but lay off thousands.

The workers and homeless rebel, in an echo of the Steel strike of 1919, and young Benedict must choose sides.