Upton sinclair biography summary

His alcoholic father sold liquor, and the family did not have much money while Sinclair was growing up. However, his grandparents were wealthy, and because Sinclair spent much of his childhood with them, he had an early vision of the disparities between rich and poor in nineteenth-century America. Sinclair would later remark that these disparities planted the early seeds of his views on social activism.

Sinclair attended the City College of New York at the age of fourteen and first began publishing stories and articles to earn a living. He married Meta Fuller in Their relationship was often tumultuous, and she left Sinclair for another writer a decade after their marriage. Sinclair would marry two other times. Sinclair began his major literary career by writing The Junglepublished in To write the novel, Sinclair went undercover in Chicago's meatpacking district.

While there, he would meet many of the immigrant laborers that became the basis for the novel's characters. It was never published. Inthe Sinclairs moved to the single-tax village of Arden, Delawarewhere they built a house. Sinclair declared before the court that they were both living in Hilversum, The Netherlands, Meta being temporarily in New York.

They met when she attended one of his lectures about The Jungle. They remained married until her death in Later that same year, Sinclair married his third wife, Mary Elizabeth Willis — 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. His novel based on the meatpacking industry in ChicagoThe Jungle, was first published in serial form in the socialist newspaper Appeal to Reasonfrom February 25,to November 4, It was published as a book by Doubleday in Sinclair had spent about six upton sinclair biographies summary investigating the Chicago meatpacking industry for Appeal to Reasonthe 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". 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. Sinclair wrote in Cosmopolitan in October about The Jungle : "I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach.

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. In The Brass CheckSinclair 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.

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. 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?

This was a pamphlet [ 67 ] he published in 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 ofvotes. Between andSinclair 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. Budd in The novels were bestsellers upon publication and were published in translation, appearing in 21 countries. 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 Cureanother bestseller. 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.

Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikisource Wikidata item. American writer — Not to be confused with his contemporary, Sinclair Lewisnovelist and social critic.

Upton sinclair biography summary: Upton Sinclair was.

Baltimore, MarylandU. Bound Brook, New JerseyU. Novelist writer journalist political activist politician. Socialist — Democratic — Meta Fuller. Mary Craig Kimbrough. Mary Elizabeth Willis. Early life and education [ edit ]. Career [ edit ]. Other interests [ edit ]. Political career [ edit ]. Personal life [ edit ]. Writing [ edit ]. The Jungle [ edit ].

Further information: The Jungle. The Brass Check [ edit ]. Sylvia novels [ edit ]. Lanny Budd series [ edit ]. Other works [ edit ]. Representation in popular culture [ edit ]. Films [ edit ]. Works [ edit ]. The Autobiography of Upton Sinclair. My Lifetime in Letters. The Cup of Fury — An essay on economic interpretation.

Upton sinclair biography summary: Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. (September

See also [ edit ]. Explanatory notes [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. The Humane Society of the United States. March 10, Archived from the original on January 6, Retrieved June 10, Press in America — via PBworks. November 18, Archived from the original on March 28, Retrieved May 11, Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN Living Authors: A Book of Biographies.

New York: H. Wilson Co. OCLC Upton Sinclair: American Rebel. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company. In Negri, Paul ed. The Jungle. Dover Thrift. The Cosmopolitan. Retrieved October 6, Retrieved November 20, Upton Sinclair. In Bloom, Harold ed. Upton Sinclair's The Jungle.

Upton sinclair biography summary: American novelist and polemicist

October—November The Intercollegiate Socialist. The New York Times. He founded the California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, and as a candidate for the Socialist Party, he launched unsuccessful bids for Congress. Eighty years after it appeared in print, Oil! With the onset of the Great DepressionSinclair intensified his political activities.

Despite vehement opposition from the political establishment, both within the Democratic Party and beyond, Sinclair was defeated by a relatively small margin, taking 37 percent of the vote in a three-candidate race. Sinclair continued his tireless and prolific output into the second half of the century, but by the early s, he had turned his attention to Mary, who was in poor health following a stroke.

She passed away inand two years later, at age 83, Sinclair married for a third time, to Mary Willis. Several years later, his own health caused him to move to a nursing home in Bound Brook, New Jersey. He died on November 25,at the age of 90, having written more than 90 books, 30 plays and countless other works of journalism. We strive for accuracy and fairness.

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