Seeds of Revolution

pharmakos

Apr 04, 2026

I found this rather obscure book randomly recommended on an /r/rsbookclub post. Set amidst the early 19th century Luddite revolts, The Iron Boys is Corbel Penner’s accounting of his early adulthood as he’s swept up in a series of events that lead to him becoming a cripple.

Corbel Penner’s intelligent in a folksy sort of way. Educated more on overheard sermons than any formal schooling. His numeracy seems wanting by today’s standards. However, his frequent use of numbers may be hinting at an esoteric numerology. Luddites are clandestinely referred to as numbers, and the frequent allusions and citations of biblical passages suggest a deeper meaning. In one of my favorite scenes, the construction of a factory is likened to the Tower of Babel:

Its Nimrods decree. There must be stuff an substance down under enough weight an circumstance to counter what you build above. An a man or a virgin it gots a lot a that kind a weight. Nimrod the mighty warrior. His kingdom was the land a Babble. He slew an buried ten thousand eight hundred an forty four souls in one big pit to shore up his mighty spire. But his ambition oertopped the lot. Look what happen to his Babble Tower. Pieces of it fallen everwhere and carted off. May even be some here they say.

This construction site also becomes the lab for performing horsepower calculations. One horse gives out, is pulled back into the gears of a winch, and dies. Later on another worker, Bob, will fall into the pit and remain buried there. Both are a sort of sacrificial offering to the edifice. “Bob and the birth a so called horse power is buried right there under that wall corner.”

Lacking any punctuation besides periods, the rustic vernacular stream of consciousness can be a rough read. The narration meanders through ornithomancy, phantom pain, Luddite transvestism, nighttime raids, and failing crops against a growing technological society. It’s a grab bag of fascinating ideas connected well, but too thoroughly churned together. Rarely does a book make me feel like I should read it a second time for a better understanding while also making me dread doing so.