Comprehensive information and links about Upton Sinclair

Upton Sinclair (September 20, 1878 – November 25, 1968) was a prolific American author who wrote over 90 books in many genres, often advocating Socialist views, and achieved considerable popularity in the first half of the twentieth century. He gained particular fame for his novel, (1906), which dealt with conditions in the U.S. meat packing industry and caused a public uproar that ultimately led to the passage of the Meat Inspection Act in 1906.

However, the main point of are actually far less significant than the human tragedy lived by his main character and other workers in the plants. His main goal for the book was to demonstrate the inhuman conditions of the wage earner under capitalism, not to inspire public health reforms in how the packing was done. Indeed, Sinclair lamented of his book and the public uproar that resulted: "I aimed at their hearts, and hit their stomachs." Still, the fame and fortune he gained from publishing enabled him to write books on almost every issue of social injustice in the 20th century.

table , written in 1903 and published a year later. Originally projected as the opening book of a trilogy, the success of ion -- in Sinclair's case -- very much of a relative kind. While The Jungle did bring to light many major issues in America such as poverty and other social wrongs many believe that it illustrates the depth of racism in American society and the racist attitudes of some Socialists and Sinclair. With excerpts from his original unabridged book such as, “The ancestors of these black people had been savages in Africa" and referring to blacks with such terms as "wooly heads", Sinclair's prejudiced views are evident.

Personal life

Sinclair lived much of his life in Monrovia, California and later in Buckeye, Arizona, but near the end of his life he moved to Bound Brook, New Jersey. He took an interest in psychic phenomena and experimented with telepathy, writing a book titled , published in 1930. Sinclair established a socialist commune called Helicon Hall Colony in 1906 with proceeds from his novel . One of those who joined was the novelist and playwright Sinclair Lewis, who worked there as a janitor. The colony burned down in 1907, apparently from arson.

Sinclair faced what he would later call "the most difficult ethical problem of my life," when he portrayed Sacco and Vanzetti as innocent and railroaded because of their political views in his novel , but their attorney Fred Moore had told him in confidence that they were guilty and how their alibis were arranged.[1] (Note: This account has recently been disputed by Sinclair biographer Greg Mitchell[2])

Sinclair's platform for the California governatorial race of 1934, known as EPIC (End Poverty in California), galvanized the support of the Democratic Party, and Sinclair gained its nomination. Conservatives in California were themselves galvanized by this, as they saw it as an attempted Communist takeover of their state and used massive political propaganda portraying Sinclair as a Communist, even as he was being portrayed by American and Soviet Communists as a capitalist following the debacle. Sinclair was defeated by Frank F. Merriam in the election and largely abandoned EPIC and politics to return to writing. However, the race of 1934, would become known as the first race to use modern campaign techniques, such as motion picture propaganda.

Sinclair was married three times.

The Lanny Budd Series

Between 1940 and 1953 Sinclair wrote 11 novels about an American named Lanny Budd that, read in sequence, detailed much of the political history of the Western world in the first half of the twentieth century. Almost totally forgotten today, they were all bestsellers upon publication and were published in 21 countries. The third book in the series, Dragon's Teeth, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1943.

[3]An article in the Los Angeles Times about how Sinclair knew Sacco and Vanzetti to be guilty, but concealed the information