Upton Sinclair

A muckraking exposé of corruption in American journalism from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Jungle Upton Sinclair dedicated his life to documenting the destructive force of unbridled capitalism. In this influential study, he takes on the effect of money and power on mass media, arguing that the newspapers, magazines, and wire services of the Progressive era formed "a class institution serving the rich and spurning the poor."   In the...

This autobiographical novel, published in 1911, follows the relationship of Thyrsis, a writer struggling to reconcile his literary aspirations with commercial success, and Corydon, his tempestuous love interest. Written with a frankness that shocked reviewers of the day, Love's Pilgrimage is a provocative chronicle of the embattled and ultimately doomed relationship that the author shared with his first wife.

Excerpt: "The whole class came to the meeting. There hadn't been such an important meeting at West Point for many a day. The yearling class had been outrageously insulted. The mightiest traditions of the academy had been violated, "trampled beneath the dust," and that by two or three vile and uncivilized "beasts"-"plebes"-new cadets of scarcely a week's experience. And the third class, the yearlings, by inherent right the guardians of West Point's...

A three-act drama about political corruption in early—twentieth century New York. First published in 1912, Upton Sinclair's “The Machine” tells the story of political grafting in New York City. The corrupt politicians of the Tammany Hall syndicate are using their business connections for their own financial gain, while some of the city's most vulnerable are drawn into a human trafficking ring. But a journalist, a lawyer, and an activist are...

An idealist Jimmie Higgins gets involved with the socialist movements that had begun to spread in Europe and the United States in the early 1900s. Jimmie Higgins is hired by German socialists and later joins the army to fight European imperialism, and finally ends up in Archangel in the Siberian Arctic to be introduced to Bolsheviks during the little known U.S. Attempt to restore the czarists to power.

Sinclair's novel follows the journey of Samuel Prescott, an idealistic young farm boy who strikes out on his own to strike it rich when his father dies shortly after losing all of his savings in a bad stock market investment. What would typically be a rags-to-riches story becomes a rags-to-rags exercise in futility, as Samuel is confronted with every form of social injustice and societal ill that you can imagine. Upton introduces Samuel to the reader...

In the early part of the twentieth century, Upton Sinclair earned a reputation as a prolific writer, committed socialist, and political activist. He gained enormous popularity when his eloquent 1906 novel The Jungle exposed conditions in the U.S. meat-packing industry, and years later, he earned a Pulitzer Prize for his series tale, Dragon's Teeth. In The Money Changers, Sinclair explores the Wall Street panic of 1907 in novel form, exposing greed...

Upton Sinclair's The Book of Life is a contains well founded advice and consists of two parts. The first part, Book of the Mind, covers spiritual topics such as faith, morality, and the subconscious. With intense conversations on the definition of each as well as their relationship and codependence on each other, Sinclair answers tough life questions and provides many thought-provoking ideas. While the first part of Sinclair's work concerns the intangibles...

In May of 1910, "Cosmopolitan Magazine" published an article by Upton Sinclair regarding his experiences with fasting. That article was subsequently also published by the United Kingdom publication "Contemporary Review" the following month. According to Sinclair no other magazine article had attracted such public attention as this article. As a result of this outpouring of interest "Cosmopolitan Magazine" asked Sinclair to write an additional article,...

Upton Sinclair's novel, 100%: The Story of a Patriot, follows young Peter Gudge, a poor and uneducated man living in America during the first World War. After being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Peter falls victim to false allegations of domestic terrorism. As a result, Peter must abandon his old ignorance to political issues. While becoming involved in politics and the government, Peter is swept into a plot to spy on the Socialist Party,...