 To some critics McGregor's exceptionalism helps Marching Men read as a proletarian novel, while others see in it an antecedent to the grotesqueness of the characters in Anderson's 1919 short story cycle, Winesburg, Ohio. To biographer John Earl Bassett, McGregor represents, in part, the author's disdain and fear for parts of modern American life, "... that America will breed Beaut McGregors — talented, charismatic, romantic, cruel — who will use their powers to achieve frightening goals". Combining the ideas of an exceptional leader and unified workers has raised questions among critics concerning the parallels between the "militaristic impulse" in Marching Men and the fascism of the WWII-era, a charge Anderson acknowledged in his posthumously-published Memoirs.
