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The novel Midcentury by John Dos Passos depicts American society after World War II, during the beginning of the Cold War, rapid industrialization, and major conflicts between capital, politics, and the labor movement. The work is written as a broad social chronicle in which fictional characters' fates and real historical events are intertwined.

One of the main plots follows Lomax, an old labor activist who recalls the struggles of the unions and the changes that the American labor movement has undergone. Another important story is related to Milliron, a representative of the business world, and his son-in-law Jenks, a young entrepreneur who is trying to start his own taxi company in the city of Duquesne. His conflict with an existing taxi company develops into a struggle marked by pressures, political connections, violence, and corruption.

Through the fates of these characters, Dos Passos shows how ordinary people become victims of great social forces. At the same time, he includes depictions of real people such as politicians, military commanders, and industrialists in the novel, thus connecting private lives with historical events.

The author uses his distinctive documentary style: he intersperses newspaper reports, biographical sketches, and commentary on social events with the narrative. The novel criticizes greed, abuse of power, and the loss of human values ​​in modern society, but at the same time emphasizes the importance of solidarity, love, and personal dignity.