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Radical Innocent: Upton Sinclair

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I was not familiar with the works of Upton Sinclair, but drawn to this book via a review in the New York Times. Sinclair was definitely a man out of sync with his times, as he would be if he were living now. I did not know that after many years as a socialist, he switched to the Democratic Party to run for Governor in California in 1934. He was involved in all types of progressive causes concerning labor/industry, the media, civil liberties, and health care. He won the Pulitzer Prize for his historical novel, Dragon's Teeth, which is a fictional account of the beginning of Adolph Hitler's Third Reich. I've tracked down a copy of that (now out of print) and am reading it due to the parallel with our time and the rise of what some are calling American fascism. (There, I've shown my hand). Nevertheless,
this biography is very well written and compelling. I took it with me on a beach vacation and had no problem finishing it.

Dr. Anthony Arthur has written a superb biography of Upton
Sinclair (1878-1968) whose long, colorful and controversial career in writing novels and in California politics takes the
reader through the twentieth century.
Sinclair was born to a fading southern family with aristocratic pretensions in Baltimore. His father died a drunk;
he was not close to his mother. Sinclair grew up in New York
graduating from CCNY and attending the Columbia Law School. As
an only child he was coddled at home. Sinclair was an eccentric
who always had self confidence in his amazing intellectual gifts.
Sinclair married Meta Fuller in 1900 with the union producing a son David (who later became a scientist) They lived in tents in Princeton where Sinclair labored on his novels and articles.
The couple divorced after they both had several affairs. The
lifestyle of the Sinclairs was bohemian with the young family living in communal situations as Helicote in New Jersey
and others.
Sinclair would wed two more times in his long life. His reputation is solidly based on his expose of the meat industry in 1906's "The Jungle" and the Lanny Budd novels beginning with
"World's End". Sinclair won a Pulitzer Prize. He was a friend of
such luminaries as Albert Einstein; Jack London; HG Welles and
George Bernard Shaw. He dabbled in film work getting to know Chalrie Chaplin and many other directors and actors.
Sinclair was arrested several times for marching in union
protests. He was high strung and a man who valued his privacy.
He wrote several novels in his career but is little known by
the general public in the twenty- first century. He is often
confused with Sinclair Lewis.
Sinclair was the Democratic candidate for governor in California in 1934 promoting his End Poverty in California
agenda (EPIC). He was defeated by big business and the moguls of
Hollywood.
Upton Sinclair was an avid tennis player who enjoyed the outdoor life. He was tough, eccentric and blessed with a genius
for putting words on paper which the general public could comprehend.
This is a worthy biography for persons interested in American literature an history.