Spirit of America Bookstore
Upton Sinclair
| Profile |
Upton Sinclair was a muckraking author, a socialist leader, and a candidate for governor of California.
He wrote over 90 books (fiction & non-fiction & children's), 29 plays, and scads of stories & articles.
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"The shriek was followed by another, louder and yet more agonizing ... One by one the men hooked up the hogs and slit their throats. There was a line of hogs with squeals and lifeblood ebbing away ... until at last each vanished into a huge vat of boiling water (some still alive). The hogs were so innocent. They came so very trustingly. They were so very human in their protests. They had done nothing to deserve it." — from Upton Sinclair's 1906 book "The Jungle" |
Upton Beall Sinclair was born 20 September 1878 in Baltimore, MD. His family moved to New York City in 1888. He later stated that the contrast between the poverty caused by his father's alocoholism and the wealth of his grandparents is what turned him into a socialist. Extremely intelligent, he entered college at age 14; he wrote stories and sold them to newspapers & magazines, making enough to get his own apartment at 17 while also helping support his parents.
Upton's first five books (1901-06) did not sell well. He read avidly and was influenced by Frank Norris ("The Octopus" 1901), other 'muckraking' journalists, and the burgeoning socialist movement. The editor of the socialist journal Appeal to Reason commissioned Upton to write a book about immigrant workers in the Chicago meat packing houses, providing a $500 advance; "The Jungle" was serialized in the magazine in 1905. Several publishers rejected the book, so Upton decided to publish it himself. After a magazine ad brought in 972 pre-publication orders, Doubleday was convinced to publish the book in 1906.
"The Jungle" was a staggering success. President Teddy Roosevelt is said to have read it in a day; he invited Upton to the White House and Roosevelt helped pass the Pure Food and Drugs Act and the Meat Inspection Act (both 1906). While his classic pro-labor exposé novel brought him international fame and passage of landmark legislation, little was changed for the workers in the meat-packing plants, which was his intention.
In September 1905, Upton helped form the Intercollegiate Socialist Society with Jack London, Clarence Darrow & Florence Kelley. Upton's first political campaign, for Congress in New Jersey (on the Socialist ticket) failed. He used some of his book royalties to establish a socialist community at Eaglewood, New Jersey (one of the members was Sinclair Lewis); the experiment lasted four months, when the facility was burned down by opponents.
Upton moved to Croton-on-Hudson, New York in 1914, a community of radicals that included Max Eastman & John Reed. Upton argued for U.S. participation in the War in Europe, while others opposed that action; Upton split with the Socialist Party over the issue. He moved to Monrovia, near Pasadena, CA in 1916. After the passage of the draconian Espionage Act of 1917, Upton took on the cause of war protestors, including Eugene Debs, who were imprisoned for sedition.
Upton continued writing after World War I, including an admission that he had been wrong in his pro-war position. Anarchist hysteria reigned in the early 1920s. Labor strikers were accused of being Communists (or Wobblies), and the police often used Ku Klux Klan thugs to break up peaceful demonstrations. Upton asked the City of Los Angeles to allow a public meeting at the harbor, where 600 dockworkers on strike had been jailed; he was refused permission. On 15 May 1923, Upton climbed up 'Liberty Hill' above San Pedro Harbor, and began reading the Bill of Rights to the assembled crowd; the police chief arrested him. Upton's brother-in-law began to read from the Declaration of Independence; he was arrested. A third man was also arrested; a fourth man arose and commented on the weather, for which he too was arrested.
Local officials held the four incommunicado for 18 hours, then tried to rush court proceedings and deny the men bail. But somebody tipped off Upton's lawyer, who arranged their release. A week later, Upton again climbed Liberty Hill and spoke before a crowd of 5,000; he was not arrested. That same day, the citizens of Los Angeles formed the Southern California branch of the American Civil Liberties Union. The next day, all but 28 of the 600 striking dockworkers were released from jail; charges against Upton and his fellows were quietly dropped.
In 1926, Upton re-joined the Socialist Party and ran for governor of California. In 1934, he left the Socialist Party permanently and proposed the E.P.I.C. program [End Poverty in California], which won him Democratic Party backing for another race for governor, against Republican Frank F. Merriam. The Sinclair campaign was leading in the polls. M.G.M. produced bogus newsreel footage linking Sinclair with radicals & communists & anarchists, and distributed them in the weeks just before the election (the first such election tactic in history); Sinclair lost.
In 1940, Upton began writing a series of 11 novels about Lanny Budd, all of which were successes; he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1943 for "Dragon's Teeth". In 1953, he moved to windswept Buckeye, AZ. In 1967, President Johnson invited Upton, then wheelchair-bound, for another visit to the White House, to witness signing of the strict Wholesome Meat Act.
Marriage in 1900 to Meta Fuller, produced a son, David; they were divorced in 1911. Marriage to Mary Craig Kimbrough in 1913 lasted until her death in 1961. A third marriage, to Mary Elizabeth Willis, ended at her death in 1967.
Upton Sinclair died on 25 November 1968 at age 90.
Links
L.A. Times article on Upton Sinclair {posted at Liberty Hill Foundation}
Upton Sinclair's movie credits at Internet Movie Database
Upton Sinclair entry at Wikipedia
Union Stockyard [Chicago] Literary Landmark Dedication Ceremony - 23 June 2005
CSPAN special
Spartacus/Schoolnet Upton Sinclair fansite
entry at Kirjasto website
C-SPAN 'American Writers' episode [2001] webpage
history of Sinclair's E.P.I.C. Program at Social Security website
Liberty Hill Foundation's Upton Sinclair Dinner & Award [est. 1981]
"Upton Sinclair on CD-ROM" [12 books, 4 plays]
B&R Samizdat Express CD-ROM [6/2003] for $12.92
publisher's product page
Novels by Upton Sinclair
Upton Sinclair catalog at Amazon
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"The Jungle: The Lie of the American Dream" [1906]
B&N Classics pb [9/2003] for $4.95 Bantam Classics pb [10/81] for $5.95 Chelsea House 9¼x6¼ pb [7/2002] for $14.67 Chelsea House 9½x6¼ hardcover [12/2001] for $37.95 7¼x4 library binding [8/2001] for $11.16 Globe Fearon ABR audio [12/95] for $26.90 Blackstone UNABR audio [10/94] for $78.94 graphic novel edition: adapted & drawn by Peter Kuper ComicsLit 11¾x7¾ hardcover [9/2004] for $15.95 Norton Critical Edition, edited by Clare Virginia Eby W.W. Norton 8¾x6¾ pb [12/2002] for $12.10 |
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"The Jungle: Uncensored Original Edition" [1906]
"What 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' did for black slaves, 'The Jungle' has a large chance to do for the white slaves of today." — Jack London See Sharp Press pb [4/2003] for $9.60 Lost First Edition [1988], edited by Gene Degruson
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"King Coal: A Novel" [1917]
A fictional version of the Ludlow Massacre in Colorado Aegypan 9x6 pb [1/2007] for $15.95 BiblioBazaar 8x5 pb [9/2006] for $16.99 Kessinger Publng 9x7½ pb [6/2004] for $24.28 Bantam Classic pb [7/94] out of print/used Aegypan 9x6 hardcover [12/2006] for $29.95 sequel "The Coal War" [1976] Univ Press of CO hardcover [6/76] out of print/used |
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"The Millenium: A Comedy of the Year 2000" [1924 novel based on 1907 play] Seven Stories Press 8¼x5½ pb [4/2000] for $11.53 official booksite |
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"Oil!: A Novel" [1927]
A fast-paced tale of the 1920s oil boom in Southern California Penguin 7¾x5½ movie tie-in pb [12/2007] for $10.20 Univ CA Press 8x5½ pb [4/97] out of print/used Bentley hardcover [6/79] out of print/used |
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"There Will Be Blood" feature film  [Paramount Vantage/Miramax Dec 2007] A wealthy oilman meets his match when he tries to cheat a Texas family headed by a blowhard preacher. Co-produced, 'loosely adapted' & directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, based on Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel "Oil!"; starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, Kevin J. O'Connor, Ciarán Hinds & Dillon Freasier video/DVD not yet available; full credits at IMDb official movie site |
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"Boston: A Documentary Novel {of the Sacco-Vanzetti Case}" [1928] A Boston brahmin who is the widow of the ex-governor becomes involved in the social and political turmoil created by the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti. Bentley 9¼x6½ hardcover [12/78] for $32.00 |
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"The Flivver King: A Story of Ford-America" [1937]
"The book was instrumental in the formation of the United Auto Workers' Union." Charles H. Kerr Publg 8¾x6½ pb [3/84] out of print/used Charles H. Kerr Publg pb [1/87] out of print/used |
Children's Books by Upton Sinclair
Lanny Budd Novels Series by Upton Sinclair
The third book in the series, "Dragon's Teeth", won the Pulitzer Prize in 1943.
Starting in 2001, small publisher Simon Publications reprinted all of the Lanny Budd 'World's End' novels {in 22 volumes} & several other Upton Sinclair works.
"World's End" [1940]
The story of Lanny Budd, a young American in Europe from 1913 to 1919.
"Between Two Worlds" [1941]
Lanny's life in Europe from the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 to the Crash of 1929, against a background of
international conferences, high society yacht cruises, and the rise of Mussolini & Hitler.
"Dragon's Teeth" [1942]
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The rise of Hitler & the Nazi Party in Germany, from the 1929 stock market crash to the 1934 'Blood Purge'; won the Pulitzer Prize in 1943.
Buccaneer hardcover [6/92] for $12.89 "Dragon's Teeth - Part I" Simon Publns 9x6 pb [7/2001] for $29.95 "Dragon's Teeth - Part II" Simon Publns 9x6 pb [7/2001] for $29.95 |
"Wide is the Gate" [1943]
1934-37: From the Nazi Blood Purge to the Spanish Civil War. Lanny joins the German underground
and mascarades as an international arts dealer.
"Presidential Agent" [1944]
1937-38: As war clouds gather in Europe, Lanny becomes a special agent of President Roosevelt.
"Dragon Harvest" [1945]
1938-40: Right after Munich & Dunkirk, Roosevelt sends Lanny to Berchtesgaden
to seek out Hitler's plans to invade Britain.
"A World to Win" [1946]
1940-42: Lanny interviews Stalin in Russia, meets with Hess in Scotland,
and witnesses the Japanese assault at Hong Kong.
"Presidential Mission" [1947]
1942-43: Roosevelt sends Lanny to North Africa and behind the lines in embattled Germany.
"One Clear Call" [1948]
1943-44: Roosevelt sends Lanny to Italy, where he discovers plots on Hitler's life
and learns about Germany's development of rockets & the atom bomb.
"O Shepherd, Speak!" [Viking 1949]
 | 1944-45: Lanny's adventures include the Battle of the Bulge, the Yalta Conference, Roosevelt's death, the A-bomb test at Trinity, and the Nuremberg Trials.
Viking hardcover [1949] out of print/used "O Shepherd, Speak! - Part I" Simon Publns 9x6 pb [7/2001] for $29.95 "O Shepherd, Speak! - Part II" Simon Publns 9x6 pb [7/2001] for $29.95 |
"The Return of Lanny Budd" [1953]
1946-49: Lanny confronts the threat to world peace from the tyrannical Communist regimes of Stalinist Russia and Maoist China.
Non-Fiction by Upton Sinclair
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"The Goose Step: A Study of American Education" [1923] by Upton Sinclair [1878-1968] "a scathing attack on business domination of education" Kessinger 9x6 pb [8/2004] for $25.71 |
Works About Upton Sinclair
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"Radical Innocent: Upton Sinclair" [2006] by Anthony Arthur Random House 9½x6½ hardcover [6/2006] for $18.45 |
 | "Upton Sinclair and The Other American Century" [2006] by Kevin Mattson Wiley 9½x7 hardcover [4/2006] for $17.13 |
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"U.S.!: A Novel" [2006] by Chris Bachelder The author brings Upton Sinclair back from the dead, to see what he has to say about leftist politics and today's world. Bloomsbury USA 8x6 pb [2/2006] for $9.72 |
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"Take Back Your Government!: A Practical Handbook For The Private Citizen Who Wants Democracy To Work" [1992]
by Robert A. Heinlein [1907-88] Written in 1946, published posthumously; based on Heinlein's experience in California politics in the 1930s, particularly his efforts on behalf of Upton Sinclair's EPIC Movement and Sinclair's attempt to become the Democratic Party's nominee for California governor in 1934. Baen mass pb [7/92] out of print/used |
"Upton Sinclair: American Rebel" [1975] by Leon A. Harris
Crowell hardcover [1975] out of stock/many used
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"Sergei Eisenstein and Upton Sinclair: The Making & Unmaking of ¡Qué Viva México!" [1970] by Harry M. Geduld & Ronald S. Gottesman Thames & Hudson hardcover [9/70] out of print/used Indiana Univ Press hardcover [9/70] out of print/used |
"The Autobiography of Upton Sinclair" [Harcourt, Brace & World 1962]
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