"With the publication of his ferocious expose of the Chicago meat packing industry, Sinclair gained instant fame as a formidable opponent of the powerful forces he saw oppressing the common man - from religion to unregulated capitalism. Not content to simply sit at home and write, Sinclair often took his show on the road. For the next sixty years, he seemed to be at the center of every national debate, supporting workers' rights, running as a Socialist candidate for political office, exposing corruption in industry and government, and, to the surprise of many of his fans, supporting Prohibition and, later, the cold war."--BOOK JACKET.

Few American writers have revealed their private as well as their public selves so fully as Upton Sinclair, and virtually none over such a long lifetime (1878—1968). Sinclair’s writing, even at its most poignant or electrifying, blurred the line between politics and art–and, indeed, his life followed a similar arc. In Radical Innocent: Upton Sinclair, Anthony Arthur weaves the strands of Sinclair’s contentious public career and his often-troubled private life into a compelling personal narrative. An unassuming teetotaler with a fiery streak, called a propagandist by some, the most conservative of revolutionaries by others, Sinclair was such a driving force of history that one could easily mistake his life story for historical fiction. He counted dozens of epochal figures as friends or confidants, including Mark Twain, Jack London, Henry Ford, Thomas Mann, H. G. Wells, Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt, Albert Einstein, Charlie Chaplin, Albert Camus, and Carl Jung. Starting with The Jungle in 1906, Sinclair’s fiction and nonfiction helped to inform and mold American opinions about socialism, labor and industry, religion and philosophy, the excesses of the media, American political isolation and pacifism, civil liberties, and mental and physical health. In his later years, Sinclair twice reinvented himself, first as the Democratic candidate for governor of California in 1934, and later, in his sixties and seventies, as a historical novelist. In 1943 he won a Pulitzer Prize for Dragon’s Teeth, one of eleven novels featuring super-spy Lanny Budd. Outside the literary realm, the ever-restless Sinclair was seemingly everywhere: forming Utopian artists’ colonies, funding and producing Sergei Eisenstein’s film documentaries, and waging consciousness-raising political campaigns. Even when he wasn’t involved in progressive causes or counterculture movements, his name often was invoked by them–an arrangement that frequently embroiled Sinclair in controversy. Sinclair’ s passion and optimistic zeal inspired America, but privately he could be a frustrated, petty man who connected better with his readers than with members of his own family. His life with his first wife, Meta, his son David, and various friends and professional acquaintances was a web of conflict and strain. Personally and professionally ambitious, Sinclair engaged in financial speculation, although his wealth-generating schemes often benefited his pet causes–and he lobbied as tirelessly for professional recognition and awards as he did for government reform. As the tenor of his work would suggest, Sinclair was supremely human. In Radical Innocent: Upton Sinclair, Anthony Arthur offers an engrossing and enlightening account of Sinclair’s life and the country he helped to transform. Taking readers from the Reconstruction South to the rise of American power to the pinnacle of Hollywood culture to the Civil Rights era, this is historical biography at its entertaining and thought-provoking finest.

Praise for UPTON SINCLAIR and the other American Century "I look forward to all of Kevin Mattson's works of history and I've notbeen disappointed yet. Upton Sinclair is a thoughtful, well-researched, and extremely eloquently told excavation of the history of theAmerican left and, indeed, the American nation, as well as a testamentto the power of one man to influence his times. Well done." --Eric Alterman, author of When Presidents Lie: A History of Official Deception and Its Consequences "A splendid read. It reminds you that real heroes once dwelt among us. Mattson not only captures Sinclair's character, but the world he inhabited, with deft strokes whose energy and passion easily match his subject's." --Richard Parker, author of John Kenneth Galbraith: His Life, His Politics, His Economics "From the meat-packing houses of Chicago to the automobile factories of Detroit to the voting booths of California, Upton Sinclair cut a wide swath as a muckraking writer who exposed the injustices rendered by American industrial capitalism. Now Kevin Mattson presents a much-needed exploration of this complex crusader. This is a thoughtful, provocative, and gripping account of an important figure who appeared equal parts intellectual, propagandist, and political combatant as he struggled to illuminate the 'other American century' inhabited by the poor and powerless." --Steven Watts, author of The People's Tycoon: Henry Ford and the American Century

Upton Sinclair (1878-1968) had a colorful life, to say the least. He was a social activist and one of his most famous works is 'The Jungle' which exposed the terrible conditions of the meat-packing industry in Chicago. He was the Democrat nominee for Governor of Califonia in 1934 but was unsuccessful.

"I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach." This carefully edited collection of works by Upton Sinclair is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents: Novels The Jungle 100%: The Story of a Patriot The Moneychangers King Coal: A Novel The Metropolis A Prisoner of Morro; or, In the Hands of Enemy They Call Me Carpenter: A Tale of the Second Coming Damaged Goods (The Great Play 'Les Avaries' of Eugene Brieux) Jimmie Higgins A Captain of Industry: Being the Story of a Civilized Man King Midas: A Romance; or, Springtime and Harvest Love's Pilgrimage Samuel the Seeker The Journal of Arthur Stirling; or, The Valley of the Shadow The Overman Sylvia's Marriage Mark Mallory Novels A Cadet's Honor; or, Mark Mallory's Heroism On Guard; or, Mark Mallory's Celebration The West Point Rivals; or, Mark Mallory's Stratagem On Fitness and Health The Book of Life (Vol.1&2) The Fasting Cure On Parapsychology and Consciousness Mental Radio: Does it Work, and How? On Religion The Profits of Religion: An Essay in Economic Interpretation On Yellow Journalism The Crimes of the "Times": A Test of Newspaper Decency" The Brass Check: A Study of American Journalism Plays The Machine The Naturewoman The Second-Story Man Prince Hagen The Pot Boiler: A Comedy in Four Acts Poetry and Letters Upton Sinclair (1878–1968) was an American author who wrote books in many genres, but in all of them advocating for the moral ethics, better life style for the working people and social justice. Writing during the Progressive Era, Sinclair describes the world of industrialized America from both the working man's point of view and the industrialist. He has also won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1943.

Here, reprinted for the first time since its original publication, is muckraking journalist Upton Sinclair's lively, caustic account of the 1934 election campaign that turned California upside down and almost won him the governor's mansion. Using his "End Poverty in California" movement (more commonly called EPIC) as a springboard, Sinclair ran for governor as a Democrat, equipped with a bold plan to end the Depression in California by taking over idle land and factories and turning them into cooperative ventures for the unemployed. To his surprise, thousands rallied to the idea, converting what he had assumed would be another of his utopian schemes into a mass political movement of extraordinary dimensions. With a loosely knit organization of hundreds of local EPIC clubs, Sinclair overwhelmed the moderate Democratic opposition to capture the primary election. When it came to the general election, however, his opposition employed highly effective campaign tactics: overwhelming media hostility, vicious red-baiting and voter intimidation, high-priced dirty tricks. The result was a resounding defeat in November. I, Candidate tells the story of Sinclair's campaign while also capturing the turbulent political mood of the 1930s. Employing his trademark muckraking style, Sinclair exposes the conspiracies of power that ensured big-money control over the media and other powerful institutions.