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Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. (September 20, 1878 â€“ November 25, 1968) was an American author, muckraker journalist, and political activist, and the 1934 Democratic Party nominee for
governor of California The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The Governor (United States), governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constit ...
. He wrote nearly 100 books and other works in several genres. Sinclair's work was well known and popular in the first half of the 20th century, and he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1943. In 1906, Sinclair acquired particular fame for his muckraking fictional novel, ''
The Jungle ''The Jungle'' is a novel by American author and muckraking-journalist Upton Sinclair, known for his efforts to expose corruption in government and business in the early 20th century. In 1904, Sinclair spent seven weeks gathering information ...
'', which exposed the fictional labor and sanitary conditions in the U.S. meatpacking industry, causing a public uproar that contributed in part to the passage a few months later of the 1906
Pure Food and Drug Act The s:Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, also known as the Wiley Act and Harvey Washington Wiley, Dr. Wiley's Law, was the first of a series of significant consumer protection laws enacted by the United States Con ...
and the Meat Inspection Act. In 1919, he published '' The Brass Check'', a muckraking exposé of American journalism that publicized the issue of yellow journalism and the limitations of the "free press" in the United States. Four years after publication of ''The Brass Check'', the first code of ethics for journalists was created. ''Time'' magazine called him "a man with every gift except humor and silence" based on his wife Mary Craig Sinclair's book "''Southern Belle: A Personal Story of a Crusader's Wife''".. He is also well remembered for the quote: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." He used this line in speeches and the book about his campaign for governor as a way to explain why the editors and publishers of the major newspapers in California would not treat seriously his proposals for old age pensions and other progressive reforms. Writing during the Progressive Era, Sinclair describes the world of the industrialized United States from both the working man's and the industrialist's points of view. Novels such as '' King Coal'' (1917), '' The Coal War'' (published posthumously), '' Oil!'' (1927), and '' The Flivver King'' (1937) describe the working conditions of the coal, oil, and auto industries at the time. ''The Flivver King'' describes the rise of Henry Ford, his "wage reform" and his company's Sociological Department, to his decline into antisemitism as publisher of '' The Dearborn Independent''. '' King Coal'' confronts John D. Rockefeller Jr., and his role in the 1914 Ludlow Massacre in the coal fields of Colorado. Sinclair was an outspoken socialist and ran unsuccessfully for Congress as a nominee from the Socialist Party. He was also the Democratic Party candidate for
governor of California The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The Governor (United States), governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constit ...
during the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
, running under the banner of the End Poverty in California campaign, but was defeated in the 1934 election.


Early life and education

Sinclair was born in
Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...
, Maryland, to Upton Beall Sinclair Sr. and Priscilla Harden Sinclair. His father was a liquor salesman whose
alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...
shadowed his son's childhood. Priscilla Harden Sinclair was a strict Episcopalian who disliked alcohol, tea, and coffee. Both of Upton Sinclair's parents were of British ancestry. His paternal grandparents were Scottish, and all of his ancestors emigrated to America from
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...
during the late 1600s and early 1700s. As a child, Sinclair slept either on sofas or cross-ways on his parents' bed. When his father was out for the night, he would sleep in the bed with his mother. His mother's family was very affluent: her parents were very prosperous in Baltimore, and her sister married a millionaire. Sinclair had wealthy maternal grandparents with whom he often stayed. This gave him insight into how both the rich and the poor lived during the late 19th century. Living in two social settings affected him and greatly influenced his books. Upton Beall Sinclair Sr. was from a highly respected family in the South, but the family was financially ruined by the
Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
, the end of slavery causing disruptions of the labor system during the
Reconstruction era The Reconstruction era was a period in History of the United States, US history that followed the American Civil War (1861-65) and was dominated by the legal, social, and political challenges of the Abolitionism in the United States, abol ...
, and an extended agricultural depression. As he was growing up, Upton's family moved frequently, as his father was not successful in his career. He developed a love for reading when he was five years old. He read every book his mother owned for a deeper understanding of the world. He did not start school until he was 10 years old. He was deficient in math and worked hard to catch up quickly because of his embarrassment. In 1888, the Sinclair family moved to
Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...
, New York City, where his father sold shoes. Upton entered the
City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...
five days before his 14th birthday, on September 15, 1892. He wrote jokes,
dime novel The dime novel is a form of late 19th-century and early 20th-century American popular fiction issued in series of inexpensive paperbound editions. The term ''dime novel'' has been used as a catchall term for several different but related form ...
s, and magazine articles in boys' weekly and
pulp magazine Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 until around 1955. The term "pulp" derives from the Pulp (paper), wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed, due to their ...
s to pay for his tuition. With that income, he was able to move his parents to an apartment when he was seventeen years old. He graduated from City College in June 1897. He subsequently studied law at
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
, but he was more interested in writing. He learned several languages, including Spanish, German, and French. He paid the one-time enrollment fee to be able to learn a variety of subjects. He would sign up for a class and then later drop it. He again supported himself through college by writing boys' adventure stories and jokes. He also sold ideas to cartoonists. Using stenographers, he wrote up to 8,000 words of pulp fiction per day. His only complaint about his educational experience was that it failed to educate him about socialism. After leaving Columbia without a degree, he wrote four books in the next four years; they were commercially unsuccessful though critically well-received: ''King Midas'' (1901), ''Prince Hagen'' (1902), '' The Journal of Arthur Stirling'' (1903), and a Civil War novel, ''Manassas'' (1904). Sinclair did not get on with his mother when he became older because of her strict rules and refusal to allow him independence. Sinclair later told his son, David, that around Sinclair's 16th year, he decided not to have anything to do with his mother, staying away from her for 35 years because an argument would start if they met. Upton became close with Reverend William Wilmerding Moir. Moir specialized in sexual abstinence and taught his beliefs to Sinclair. He was taught to "avoid the subject of sex." Sinclair was to report to Moir monthly regarding his abstinence. Despite their close relationship, Sinclair identified as agnostic.


Career

Sinclair considered himself a poet and dedicated his time to writing poetry. In 1904, Sinclair spent seven weeks in disguise, working undercover in Chicago's meatpacking plants to research his novel ''
The Jungle ''The Jungle'' is a novel by American author and muckraking-journalist Upton Sinclair, known for his efforts to expose corruption in government and business in the early 20th century. In 1904, Sinclair spent seven weeks gathering information ...
'' (1906), a political exposé that addressed conditions in the plants, as well as the lives of poor immigrants. When it was published two years later, it became a bestseller. In the spring of 1905, Sinclair issued a call for the formation of a new organization, a group to be called the Intercollegiate Socialist Society. With the income from ''The Jungle'', Sinclair founded the utopian—but non-Jewish white only— Helicon Home Colony in
Englewood, New Jersey Englewood is a city in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Englewood was incorporated as a city by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from portions of Ridgefield Township and the remaining portions of Engle ...
. He ran as a Socialist candidate for Congress. The colony burned down under suspicious circumstances within a year. In 1913–1914, Sinclair made three trips to the coal fields of Colorado, which led him to write '' King Coal'' and caused him to begin work on the larger, more historical '' The Coal War.'' In 1914, Sinclair helped organize demonstrations in New York City against Rockefeller at the Standard Oil offices. The demonstrations touched off more actions by the
Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), whose members are nicknamed "Wobblies", is an international labor union founded in Chicago, United States in 1905. The nickname's origin is uncertain. Its ideology combines general unionism with indu ...
(IWW) and the ''Mother Earth'' group, a loose association of anarchists and IWW members, in Rockefeller's hometown of Tarrytown. The Sinclairs moved to
Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...
in 1916 and lived there for nearly four decades. During his years with his second wife, Mary Craig, Sinclair wrote or produced several films. Recruited by
Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...
, Sinclair and Mary Craig produced Eisenstein's '' ¡Qué viva México!'' in 1930–32.


Other interests

Aside from his political and social writings, Sinclair took an interest in
occult The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysti ...
phenomena and experimented with
telepathy Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic ...
. His book '' Mental Radio'' (1930) included accounts of his wife Mary's telepathic experiences and ability. William McDougall read the book and wrote an introduction to it, which led him to establish the
parapsychology Parapsychology is the study of alleged psychic phenomena (extrasensory perception, telepathy, teleportation, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis (also called telekinesis), and psychometry (paranormal), psychometry) and other paranormal cla ...
department at Duke University.


Political career

Sinclair's first campaign for public office came in 1906 when he ran for Congress in New Jersey's 4th congressional district, polling 3% of the vote. He broke with the Socialist Party in 1917 and supported the war effort during
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. By the 1920s, however, he had returned to the party. In the 1920s, the Sinclairs moved to Monrovia, California, (near
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
), where Sinclair founded the state's chapter of the
American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. T ...
. Wanting to pursue politics, he twice ran unsuccessfully for Congress on the Socialist Party ticket: in 1920 for the
House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...
and in 1922 for the
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
. He was the party candidate for governor of California in 1926, winning nearly 46,000 votes, and in 1930, winning nearly 50,000 votes. During this period, Sinclair was also active in radical politics in Los Angeles. For instance, in 1923, to support the challenged free speech rights of
Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), whose members are nicknamed "Wobblies", is an international labor union founded in Chicago, United States in 1905. The nickname's origin is uncertain. Its ideology combines general unionism with indu ...
, Sinclair spoke at a rally during the San Pedro Maritime Strike, in a neighborhood now known as Liberty Hill. He began to read from the Bill of Rights and was promptly arrested, along with hundreds of others, by the LAPD. The arresting officer proclaimed: "We'll have none of that Constitution stuff". In the same year, Sinclair founded the Southern California chapter of the
American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. T ...
. In 1934, Sinclair ran in the California gubernatorial election as a Democrat. Sinclair's platform, known as the End Poverty in California movement (EPIC), galvanized the support of the Democratic Party, and Sinclair gained its nomination. Gaining 879,000 votes made this his most successful run for office, but incumbent Governor Frank Merriam defeated him by a sizable margin, gaining 1,138,000 votes. Hollywood studio bosses unanimously opposed Sinclair. They pressured their employees to assist and vote for Merriam's campaign, and made false propaganda films attacking Sinclair, giving him no opportunity to respond. The negative campaign tactics used against Sinclair are briefly depicted in the 2020 American biographical drama film '' Mank''. Upton Sinclair later stated that there was a "campaign of lying" against him during the campaign which was "ordered by the biggest businessmen in California and paid for with millions of dollars" that was carried out by newspapers, politicians, advertisers, and the film industry. Sinclair's plan to end poverty quickly became a controversial issue under the pressure of numerous migrants to California fleeing the Dust Bowl. Conservatives considered his proposal an attempted communist takeover of their state and quickly opposed him, using propaganda to portray Sinclair as a staunch communist. Sinclair had been a member of the Socialist Party from 1902 to 1934, when he became a Democrat, though always considering himself a socialist in spirit. The Socialist Party in California and nationwide refused to allow its members to be active in any other party including the Democratic Party and expelled him, along with socialists who supported his California campaign. The expulsions destroyed the Socialist Party in California. At the same time, American and
Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
communists disassociated themselves from him, considering him a capitalist. In later writings, such as his anti-alcohol book ''The Cup of Fury'', Sinclair scathingly censured communism. Science-fiction author Robert A. Heinlein was deeply involved in Sinclair's campaign, although he attempted to move away from the stance later in his life. In the 21st century, Sinclair is considered an early American
democratic socialist Democratic socialism is a left-wing economic and political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-mana ...
. After his loss to Merriam, Sinclair abandoned EPIC and politics to return to writing. In 1935, he published ''I, Candidate for Governor: And How I Got Licked'', in which he described the techniques employed by Merriam's supporters, including the then popular Aimee Semple McPherson, who vehemently opposed socialism and what she perceived as Sinclair's
modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
. Sinclair's line from this book "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it" has become well known and was for example quoted by
Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American former politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He previously served as ...
in '' An Inconvenient Truth''. Of his gubernatorial bid, Sinclair remarked in 1951:
The American People will take Socialism, but they won't take the label. I certainly proved it in the case of EPIC. Running on the Socialist ticket I got 60,000 votes, and running on the slogan to 'End Poverty in California' I got 879,000. I think we simply have to recognize the fact that our enemies have succeeded in spreading the Big Lie. There is no use attacking it by a front attack, it is much better to out-flank them.


Personal life

In April 1900, Sinclair went to Lake Massawippi in
Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
to work on a novel, renting a small cabin for three months and then moving to a farmhouse where he was reintroduced to his future first wife, Meta Fuller (1880–1964). A childhood friend descended from one of the First Families of Virginia, she was three years younger than he and aspired to be more than a housewife, so Sinclair instructed her in what to read and learn. Though each had warned the other against it, on October 18, 1900, they married. The couple having used abstinence as their main form of contraception, Meta became pregnant the following year. Despite Meta's several attempts to terminate the pregnancy, the child, David, was born on December 1, 1901. Meta and her family tried to convince Sinclair to give up writing and get "a job that would support his family." Sinclair was opposed to sex outside of marriage and viewed it as necessary only for reproduction. He told his first wife Meta that only the birth of a child gave marriage "dignity and meaning". Despite his beliefs, Sinclair had a love affair with Anna Noyes during his marriage to Meta. He wrote a novel about the affair called ''Love's Progress'', a sequel to ''Love's Pilgrimage''. It was never published. His wife later had a love affair with John Armistead Collier, a theology student from Memphis; they had a son together named Ben. In 1910, the Sinclairs moved to the single-tax village of Arden, Delaware, where they built a house. In 1911, Sinclair was arrested for playing tennis on the Sabbath and spent eighteen hours in the New Castle County prison in lieu of paying a fine. Earlier in 1911, Sinclair invited Harry Kemp, the "Vagabond Poet", to camp on the couple's land in Arden. Meta soon became enamored of Kemp, and in late August she left Sinclair for the poet. Sinclair, unable to obtain a divorce in New York, traveled to the Netherlands for a migratory divorce. An Amsterdam court declared their marriage annulled May 24, 1912 on the basis of adultery by Meta. Sinclair declared before the court that they were both living in Hilversum, The Netherlands, Meta being temporarily in New York. In 1913, Sinclair married Mary Craig Kimbrough (1882–1961), a woman from an elite Greenwood, Mississippi, family who had written articles on Winnie Davis, the daughter of Confederate States of America President
Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the only President of the Confederate States of America, president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the Unite ...
. They met when she attended one of his lectures about ''The Jungle''. In 1914 he moved to Croton-on-Hudson, New York, joining the local community of prominent socialists. In the 1920s, the couple moved to
Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...
. They remained married until her death in 1961. Later that same year, Sinclair married his third wife, Mary Elizabeth Willis (1882–1967). They moved to Buckeye, Arizona, before returning east to Bound Brook, New Jersey, where Sinclair died in a nursing home on November 25, 1968, a year after Mary.. He is buried next to Willis in
Rock Creek Cemetery Rock Creek Cemetery is an cemetery with a natural and rolling landscape located at Rock Creek Church Road, NW, and Webster Street, NW, off Hawaii Avenue, NE, in the Petworth (Washington, D.C.), Petworth neighborhood of Washington, D.C., across ...
in Washington, D.C.


Writing

Sinclair devoted his writing career to documenting and criticizing the social and economic conditions of the early 20th century in both fiction and nonfiction. He exposed his view of the injustices of capitalism and the overwhelming effects of poverty among the working class. He also edited collections of fiction and nonfiction.


''The Jungle''

His fictional novel based on the meatpacking industry in Chicago, ''The Jungle,'' was first published in serial form in the socialist newspaper '' Appeal to Reason,'' from February 25, 1905, to November 4, 1905. It was published as a book by Doubleday in 1906. Sinclair had spent about six months investigating the Chicago meatpacking industry for ''Appeal to Reason'', the work which inspired his novel. He intended to "set forth the breaking of human hearts by a system which exploits the labor of men and women for profit". The novel featured Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant who works in a meat factory in Chicago, his teenage wife Ona Lukoszaite, and their extended family. Sinclair portrays their mistreatment by Rudkus' employers and the wealthier elements of society. His descriptions of the unsanitary and inhumane conditions that workers suffered served to shock and galvanize readers. Jack London called Sinclair's book "the ''
Uncle Tom's Cabin ''Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly'' is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two Volume (bibliography), volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans ...
'' of wage slavery". Domestic and foreign purchases of American meat fell by half. Sinclair wrote in '' Cosmopolitan'' in October 1906 about ''The Jungle'': "I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach." The novel brought public lobbying for Congressional legislation and government regulation of the industry, including passage of the Meat Inspection Act and the
Pure Food and Drug Act The s:Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, also known as the Wiley Act and Harvey Washington Wiley, Dr. Wiley's Law, was the first of a series of significant consumer protection laws enacted by the United States Con ...
. At the time, President
Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...
characterized Sinclair as a "crackpot", writing to William Allen White, "I have an utter contempt for him. He is hysterical, unbalanced, and untruthful. Three-fourths of the things he said were absolute falsehoods. For some of the remainder there was only a basis of truth." After reading ''The Jungle,'' Roosevelt agreed with some of Sinclair's conclusions. He said, "Radical action must be taken to do away with the efforts of arrogant and selfish greed on the part of the capitalist." But in the end he said he was opposed to legislation that he and others considered "
socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
."
Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...
's play, '' Saint Joan of the Stockyards'', transporting
Joan of Arc Joan of Arc ( ; ;  â€“ 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the Coronation of the French monarch, coronation of Charles VII o ...
to the environment of the Chicago stockyards, is clearly inspired by "The Jungle".


''The Brass Check''

In '' The Brass Check'' (1919), Sinclair made a systematic and incriminating critique of the severe limitations of the " free press" in the United States. Among the topics covered is the use of yellow journalism techniques created by
William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American newspaper publisher and politician who developed the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His extravagant methods of yellow jou ...
. Sinclair called ''The Brass Check'' "the most important and most dangerous book I have ever written." According to ''The Brass Check'', "American Journalism is a class institution, serving the rich and spurning the poor." This bias, Sinclair felt, had profound implications for American democracy:
The social body to which we belong is at this moment passing through one of the greatest crises of its history .... What if the nerves upon which we depend for knowledge of this social body should give us false reports of its condition?


''Sylvia'' novels

* ''Sylvia'' (1913) was a novel about a Southern girl. In her autobiography, Mary Craig Sinclair said she had written the book based on her own experiences as a girl, and Upton collaborated with her. According to Craig, at her insistence, Sinclair published ''Sylvia'' (1913) under his name. In her 1957 memoir, she described how her husband and she had collaborated on the work: "Upton and I struggled through several chapters of ''Sylvia'' together, disagreeing about something on every page. But now and then each of us admitted that the other had improved something.". When it appeared in 1913, ''The New York Times'' called it "the best novel Mr. Sinclair has yet written–so much the best that it stands in a class by itself." * ''Sylvia's Marriage'' (1914), Craig and Sinclair collaborated on a sequel, also published by John C. Winston Company under Upton Sinclair's name. In his 1962 autobiography, Upton Sinclair wrote: " aryCraig had written some tales of her Southern girlhood; and I had stolen them from her for a novel to be called ''Sylvia''."


''I, Governor of California, and How I Ended Poverty''

This was a pamphlet he published in 1934 as a preface to running for office in the state of California. In the book he outlined his plans to run as a Democrat instead of a Socialist, and imagines his climb to the Democratic nomination, and then subsequent victory by a margin of 100,000 votes.


Lanny Budd series

Between 1940 and 1953, Sinclair wrote a series of 11 novels featuring a central character named Lanny Budd. The son of an American arms manufacturer, Budd is portrayed as holding in the confidence of world leaders, and not simply witnessing events, but often propelling them. As a sophisticated socialite who mingles easily with people from all cultures and socioeconomic classes, Budd has been characterized as the antithesis of the stereotyped " Ugly American". Sinclair placed Budd within the important political events in the United States and Europe in the first half of the 20th century. An actual company named the Budd Company manufactured arms during World War II, founded by Edward G. Budd in 1912. The novels were bestsellers upon publication and were published in translation, appearing in 21 countries. The third book in the series, '' Dragon's Teeth'' (1942), won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1943. Out of print and nearly forgotten for years, ebook editions of the Lanny Budd series were published in 2016. The Lanny Budd series includes: * '' World's End'', 1940 * '' Between Two Worlds'', 1941 * '' Dragon's Teeth'', 1942 * '' Wide is the Gate'', 1943 * '' Presidential Agent'', 1944 * '' Dragon Harvest'', 1945 * '' A World to Win'', 1946 * '' Presidential Mission'', 1947 * '' One Clear Call'', 1948 * '' O Shepherd, Speak!'', 1949 * '' The Return of Lanny Budd'', 1953


Other works

Sinclair was keenly interested in health and nutrition. He experimented with various diets, and with fasting. He wrote about this in his book, '' The Fasting Cure'' (1911), another bestseller. He believed that periodic fasting was important for health, saying, "I had taken several fasts of ten or twelve days' duration, with the result of a complete making over of my health". Sinclair favored a raw food diet of predominantly vegetables and nuts. For long periods of time, he was a complete vegetarian, but he also experimented with eating meat. His attitude to these matters was fully explained in the chapter, "The Use of Meat", in the above-mentioned book. In the last years of his life, Sinclair strictly ate three meals a day consisting only of brown rice, fresh fruit and celery, topped with powdered milk and salt, and pineapple juice to drink.


Representation in popular culture

*
Sinclair Lewis Harry Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. In 1930 Nobel Prize in Literature, 1930, he became the first author from the United States (and the first from the America ...
refers to Upton Sinclair and his EPIC plan in the novel ''
It Can't Happen Here ''It Can't Happen Here'' is a 1935 dystopian political novel by the American author Sinclair Lewis. Set in a fictionalized version of the 1930s United States, it follows an American politician, Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip, who quickly rises to pow ...
'' (1935). * Sinclair appears in T. C. Boyle's novel '' The Road to Wellville'' (1993), which is built around a historical fictionalization of
John Harvey Kellogg John Harvey Kellogg (February 26, 1852 – December 14, 1943) was an American businessman, Invention, inventor, physician, and advocate of the Progressive Era, Progressive Movement. He was the director of the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Battle Cr ...
, the inventor of corn flakes and the founder of the Battle Creek Sanitarium. In the book, Sinclair and his first wife, Meta, appear as patients at the Sanitarium. Later, Kellogg is outraged when he discovers that another of his patients has been fasting after reading a typescript of Sinclair's ''The Fasting Cure''. * Sinclair appears in the American Empire trilogy (2001–2003), part of the wider Southern Victory series of
alternate history Alternate history (also referred to as alternative history, allohistory, althist, or simply A.H.) is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which one or more historical events have occurred but are resolved differently than in actual history. As ...
novels by
Harry Turtledove Harry Norman Turtledove (born June 14, 1949) is an American author who is best known for his work in the genres of alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction, and mystery fiction. He is a student of history and completed his ...
. In the series, Sinclair becomes president of the United States, serving from 1921 to 1929, as the first president from the Socialist Party. During his administration, he builds up social welfare programs at home and tries to foster peace abroad. Sinclair takes a more lenient stance towards the Confederacy than his predecessor
Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...
did, cancelling Great War reparations following the assassination of Confederate President Wade Hampton V in 1922. * Sinclair is featured as one of the main characters in Chris Bachelder's satirical novel, ''U.S.!'' (2005). Repeatedly, Sinclair is resurrected after his death and assassinated again, a "personification of the contemporary failings of the American left". He is portrayed as a quixotic reformer attempting to stir an apathetic American public to implement socialism in America. *
Joyce Carol Oates Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. Her novels ''Black ...
refers to Sinclair and his first wife, Meta, in her novel '' The Accursed'' (2013). * Sinclair was portrayed by Bill Nye in David Fincher's biopic '' Mank'' (2020).


Films

* ''
The Jungle ''The Jungle'' is a novel by American author and muckraking-journalist Upton Sinclair, known for his efforts to expose corruption in government and business in the early 20th century. In 1904, Sinclair spent seven weeks gathering information ...
'' (1914) is a silent film adaptation of the 1906 novel, with George Nash playing Jurgis Rudkus and Gail Kane playing Ona Lukozsaite. The film is considered lost. Sinclair appears at the beginning and end of the film as a form of endorsement. * '' The Wet Parade'' (1932) is a film adaptation of Sinclair's eponymous 1931 novel, directed by
Victor Fleming Victor Lonzo Fleming (February 23, 1889 – January 6, 1949) was an American film director, cinematographer, and producer. His most popular films were the historical drama ''Gone with the Wind (film), Gone with the Wind'', for which he won an A ...
and starring Lewis Stone, Walter Huston, Dorothy Jordan, Neil Hamilton, Robert Young, and
Jimmy Durante James Francis Durante ( , ; February 10, 1893 â€“ January 29, 1980) was an American comedian, actor, singer, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower East Side New York accent, accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced son ...
. Myrna Loy appears very briefly as an actress who runs an elegant speakeasy. * Walt Disney Productions adapted ''The Gnomobile'' (1937) into the 1967 musical motion picture '' The Gnome-Mobile''. * '' Oil!'' (1927) was adapted as the film '' There Will Be Blood'' (2007), starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul Dano, and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. The film received eight Oscar nominations and won two. * In David Fincher's film drama '' Mank'' (2020), Bill Nye has a small role as Sinclair running for California governor in 1934 as the Democratic nominee.


Works

Fiction * Sinclair, Upton. ''Upton Sinclair Anthology'' (1947
online
* Engs, Ruth Clifford, ed. ''Unseen Upton Sinclair: Nine Unpublished Stories, Essays and Other Works.'' (McFarland & Co. 2009). * ''Tommy Junior The Second'' â€“ The Argosy, July 1895 * ''Courtmartialed'' â€“ 1898 * ''Saved By the Enemy'' â€“ 1898 * ''The Fighting Squadron'' â€“ 1898 * ''A Prisoner of Morro'' â€“ 1898 * ''A Soldier Monk'' â€“ 1898 * ''A Gauntlet of Fire'' â€“ 1899 * ''Holding the Fort''  â€“ 1899 * ''A Soldier's Pledge'' â€“ 1899 * ''Wolves of the Navy'' â€“ 1899 * '' Springtime and Harvest'' â€“ 1901, reissued the same year as ''King Midas'' * '' The Journal of Arthur Stirling'' â€“ 1903 * ''Off For West Point'' â€“ 1903 * ''From Port to Port'' â€“ 1903 * ''On Guard'' â€“ 1903 * ''A Strange Cruise'' â€“ 1903 * ''The West Point Rivals'' â€“ 1903 * ''A West Point Treasure'' â€“ 1903 * ''A Cadet's Honor'' â€“ 1903 * ''Cliff, the Naval Cadet'' â€“ 1903 * ''The Cruise of the Training Ship'' â€“ 1903 * ''Prince Hagen'' â€“ 1903 * ''Manassas: A Novel of the War'' â€“ 1904, reissued in 1959 as ''Theirs be the Guilt'' * ''A Captain of Industry'' â€“ 1906 * ''
The Jungle ''The Jungle'' is a novel by American author and muckraking-journalist Upton Sinclair, known for his efforts to expose corruption in government and business in the early 20th century. In 1904, Sinclair spent seven weeks gathering information ...
'' â€“ 1906 * ''The Overman'' â€“ 1907 * ''The Industrial Republic'' â€“ 1907 * ''The Metropolis'' â€“ 1908 * ''The Moneychangers'' â€“ 1908, reprinted as ''The Money Changers'' * ''Samuel The Seeker'' â€“ 1910 * ''Love's Pilgrimage'' â€“ 1911 * '' Damaged Goods'' â€“ 1913 * ''Sylvia'' â€“ 1913 * ''Sylvia's Marriage'' â€“ 1914 * '' King Coal'' â€“ 1917 * ''Jimmie Higgins'' â€“ 1919 * ''Debs and the Poets'' â€“ 1920 * ''100% – The Story of a Patriot'' â€“ 1920 * ''The Spy'' â€“ 1920 * ''They Call Me Carpenter: A Tale of the Second Coming'' â€“ 1922 * ''The Millennium'' â€“ 1924 * ''The Spokesman's Secretary'' â€“ 1926 * '' Oil!'' â€“ 1927 * ''
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
'', 2 vols. â€“ 1928 * ''Mountain City'' â€“ 1930 * '' Roman Holiday'' â€“ 1931 * ''The Wet Parade'' â€“ 1931 * ''American Outpost'' â€“ 1932 * ''The Way Out (novel)'' â€“ 1933 * ''Immediate Epic'' â€“ 1933 * ''The Lie Factory Starts'' â€“ 1934 * ''The Book of Love'' â€“ 1934 * ''Depression Island'' â€“ 1935 * ''Co-op: a Novel of Living Together'' â€“ 1936 * '' The Gnomobile'' â€“ 1936, 1962 * ''Wally for Queen'' â€“ 1936 * ''No Pasaran!: A Novel of the Battle of Madrid'' â€“ 1937 * '' The Flivver King: A Story of Ford-America '' â€“ 1937 * '' Little Steel'' â€“ 1938 * ''Our Lady'' â€“ 1938 * ''Expect No Peace'' â€“ 1939 * ''Marie Antoinette (novel)'' â€“ 1939 * ''Telling The World'' â€“ 1939 * ''Your Million Dollars'' â€“ 1939 * '' World's End'' â€“ 1940 * ''World's End Impending'' â€“ 1940 * '' Between Two Worlds'' â€“ 1941 * '' Dragon's Teeth'' â€“ 1942 * '' Wide Is the Gate'' â€“ 1943 * '' Presidential Agent'' â€“ 1944 * '' Dragon Harvest'' â€“ 1945 * '' A World to Win'' â€“ 1946 * '' A Presidential Mission'' â€“ 1947 * ''A Giant's Strength'' â€“ 1948 * ''Limbo on the Loose'' â€“ 1948 * '' One Clear Call'' â€“ 1948 * '' O Shepherd, Speak!'' â€“ 1949 * ''Another Pamela'' â€“ 1950 * ''Schenk Stefan!'' â€“ 1951 * ''A Personal Jesus'' â€“ 1952 * '' The Return of Lanny Budd'' â€“ 1953 * ''What Didymus Did'' â€“ UK 1954 / ''It Happened to Didymus'' â€“ US 1958 * ''Theirs Be the Guilt'' â€“ 1959 * ''Affectionately Eve'' â€“ 1961 * '' The Coal War'' â€“ 1976 Autobiographical * ''The Autobiography of Upton Sinclair.'' With Maeve Elizabeth Flynn III. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1962. * ''My Lifetime in Letters.'' Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1960
online
* '' The Cup of Fury'' â€“ 1956 Non-fiction * ''Good Health and How We Won It: With an Account of New Hygiene (1909)'' â€“ 1909 * '' The Fasting Cure'' â€“ 1911 * '' The Profits of Religion'' â€“ 1917 * '' The Brass Check'' â€“ 1919 * ''The McNeal-Sinclair Debate on Socialism'' â€“ 1921 * ''The Book of Life'' â€“ 1921 * '' The Goose-Step'' â€“ 1923 *
The Goslings: A Study of the American Schools
' â€“ 1924 * '' Mammonart. An Essay in Economic Interpretation'' â€“ 1925 * ''Letters to Judd, an American Workingman'' â€“ 1925 * ''Money Writes! A Study of American Literature'' â€“ 1927 * '' Mental Radio: Does it work, and how?'' â€“ 1930, 1962 * '' Upton Sinclair Presents William Fox'' â€“ 1933 * ''We, People of America, and how we ended poverty : a true story of the future'' â€“ 1933 * ''I, Governor of California – and How I Ended Poverty'' â€“ 1933 * ''The Epic Plan for California'' â€“ 1934 * ''I, Candidate for Governor – and How I Got Licked'' â€“ 1935 * ''Epic Answers: How to End Poverty in California (1935)'' â€“ 1934 * ''What God Means to Me'' â€“ 1936 * ''Upton Sinclair on the Soviet Union'' â€“ 1938 * ''Letters to a Millionaire'' â€“ 1939 Drama * ''Plays of Protest: The Naturewoman, The Machine, The Second-Story Man, Prince Hagen'' â€“ 1912 * ''The Pot Boiler'' â€“ 1913 (Not published in book form until 1924 – as Little Blue Book 589, issued by
E. Haldeman-Julius Emanuel Haldeman-Julius (''né'' Emanuel Julius) (July 30, 1889 – July 31, 1951) was a American Jews, Jewish-American History of the socialist movement in the United States#20th century, socialist writer, atheist thinker, social reformer and pu ...
.) * ''Hell: A Verse Drama and Photoplay'' â€“ 1924 * ''Singing Jailbirds: A Drama in Four Acts'' â€“ 1924 * ''Bill Porter: A Drama of O. Henry in Prison'' â€“ 1925 * ''The Enemy Had It Too: A Play in Three Acts'' â€“ 1950 As editor * ''The Cry for Justice: An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest'' â€“ 1915


See also

* Upton Sinclair House—in Monrovia, California * Will H. Kindig, a supporter on the Los Angeles City Council * List of residences of American writers


Explanatory notes


References


Further reading

* . * Arthur, Anthony. "Upton Sinclair
''The New York Times'' Nov. 26, 1968
obituary * Blinderman, Abraham, ed. ''Critics on Upton Sinclair; readings in literary criticism'' (1975
online
* Bloodworth Jr., William A. ''Upton Sinclair''. (Twayne, 1977
online
* Bloodworth Jr., William Andrew, Jr. "The early years of Upton Sinclair: A study of the development of a progressive Christian Socialist" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Texas at Austin; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses,  1972. 7307508) * Coodley, Lauren, editor, ''The Land of Orange Groves and Jails: Upton Sinclair's California.'' Berkeley, CA: Heyday Books, 2004. * Coodley, Lauren. ''Upton Sinclair: California Socialist, Celebrity Intellectual.'' Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2013. * Cook, Timothy. "Upton Sinclair's" The Jungle" and Orwell's" Animal Farm": A Relationship Explored." ''Modern Fiction Studies'' 30.4 (1984): 696–703
online
* Dell, Floyd. ''Upton Sinclair; a study in social protest'' (1970
online
* Duvall, J. Michael. "Processes of Elimination: Progressive-Era Hygienic Ideology, Waste, and Upton Sinclair's The Jungle." ''American Studies'' 43.3 (2002): 29–56
online
* Folsom, Michael Brewster. "Upton Sinclair's Escape from The Jungle: The Narrative Strategy and Suppressed Conclusion of America's First Proletarian Novel." ''Prospects'' 4 (1979): 237–266. * Graf, Rüdiger. "Truth in the Jungle of Literature, Science, and Politics: Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and Food Control Reforms during the Progressive Era." ''Journal of American History'' 106.4 (2020): 901–922. online * Graham, John, ''The Coal War,'' (Colorado Associated University Press, 1976). * Gottesman, Ronald. ''Upton Sinclair: An Annotated Checklist.'' Kent State University Press, 1973. * Harris, Leon. ''Upton Sinclair, American Rebel.'' New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co, 1975. * Leader, Leonard. "Upton Sinclair's EPIC Switch: A Dilemma for American Socialists." ''Southern California Quarterly'' 62.4 (1980): 361–385. * Mattson, Kevin. ''Upton Sinclair and the Other American Century.'' (John Wiley & Sons, 2006)
online
* Mitchell, Greg. ''The Campaign of the Century: Upton Sinclair and the EPIC Campaign in California.'' New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1991. * Mookerjee, R. N. ''Art for social justice : the major novels of Upton Sinclair'' (1988
online
* Pickavance, Jason. "Gastronomic realism: Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, the fight for pure food, and the magic of mastication." ''Food and Foodways'' 11.2–3 (2003): 87–112. * Piep, Karsten H. "War as Proletarian Bildungsroman in Upton Sinclair's Jimmie Higgins." ''War, Literature, and the Arts: An International Journal of the Humanities'' 17.1–2 (2005): 199–226
online
* Rising, George G. "An EPIC Endeavor: Upton Sinclair's 1934 California Gubernatorial Campaign." ''Southern California Quarterly'' 79.1 (1997): 101–124
online
* Swint, Kerwin. ''Mudslingers: The Twenty-five Dirtiest Political Campaigns of All Time.'' (Praeger, 2006). * Wade, Louise C. "The problem with classroom use of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle." ''American Studies'' 32.2 (1991): 79–101
online
* Wagner, Rob Leicester. ''Hollywood Bohemia: The Roots of Progressive Politics in Rob Wagner's Script'' (Janaway, 2016) () * Yoder, Jon A. ''Upton Sinclair.'' New York: Frederick Ungar, 1975
online
* Zanger, Martin. "Upton Sinclair as California's Socialist Candidate for Congress, 1920," ''Southern California Quarterly,'' vol. 56, no. 4 (Winter 1974), pp. 359–73.


External links

*
Upton Sinclair Collection
at the Harry Ransom Center *.
Upton Sinclair, "EPIC"
Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco
"A Tribute To Two Sinclairs"
Sinclair Lewis & Upton Sinclair
"Writings of Upton Sinclair"
from
C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...
's '' American Writers: A Journey Through History''
Upton Sinclair â€“ Induction into the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame

Image of Upton Sinclair and wife Mary Craig, Santa Barbara, California, 1935.
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
A Portfolio of Upton Sinclair Photographs.
Los Angeles: Southern California Quarterly, vol. 56, no. 4, Historical Society of Southern California, Winter 1974.


Electronic editions

* * * * *
''The Cry for Justice: An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest''
Bartleby.com
"Upton Sinclair's 1929 letter to John Beardsley"
Upton Sinclair to John Beardsley {{DEFAULTSORT:Sinclair, Upton 1878 births 1968 deaths 19th-century American male writers 19th-century American novelists 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American novelists Activists from California American democratic socialists American investigative journalists American male non-fiction writers American male novelists American temperance activists Burials at Rock Creek Cemetery California Democrats City College of New York alumni Columbia University alumni American critics of religions Fasting advocates Maryland socialists Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Novelists from Maryland Novelists from New York (state) People from Bound Brook, New Jersey People from Buckeye, Arizona People from the San Gabriel Valley Progressive Era in the United States Pulitzer Prize for the Novel winners Socialist Party of America politicians from California War Resisters League activists Writers from Baltimore Writers from Englewood, New Jersey Writers from Los Angeles County, California Writers from Maricopa County, Arizona Writers from Somerset County, New Jersey