Radical Innocent: Upton Sinclair

by Anthony Arthur

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 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 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 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
"Lively, unsparing look at the turn-of-the-century muckraker, social critic and novelist who changed the way America did business....Arthur organizes his biography into chapters reflecting Sinclair's various crusading "selves"—e.g., The Warrior , The Pilgrim of Love , etc.—and uses a deft, light touch... An immensely readable biography." – Kirkus Reviews

“..excellent new biography.”– USA Today
 
“…a model of good biography.” – Los Angeles Magazine
 
“Absorbing.” – The Wall Street Journal

"intimate and intellectually astute."- The New Yorker
“enlightening, frequently stinging biography . . . Arthur organizes a vast amount of information into a fast-flowing, witty, and incisive narrative.” - Booklist [starred review]
“a well-researched, balanced and fascinating portrait.” - Publishers Weekly
"Neither hagiographic nor condescending, Arthur is an exemplary biographer, interested in human beings for their own sake, in all their unvarnished oddity." - The Nation

“Few authors have led as full and fascinating a career, and rare is the biographer capable of packing the fascinating fullness as compactly– and apparently completely – as Arthur has done.” – Chicago Sun Times
 
“…an engrossing and enlightening account of Sinclair's life and the country he helped to transform. . . historical biography at its entertaining and thought-provoking finest.” – Forbes Book Club
 
“The chapters in Radical Innocent that describe the research and writing of The Jungle – the most famous and still the most powerful of all the muckraking novels – are thrilling. . . .Arthur captures nicely Sinclair's almost absurd innocence, his boundless enthusiasm as he met journalists, welfare workers, labor organizers and the men and women who worked in the slaughterhouses." – Los Angeles Times
 
“…an outstanding biography. I recommend it without reservation.” – David M. Kinchen, Huntington News Network Book
 
“…a bracing biography.” – Boston Globe

“…admirable . . . compelling look at an intellectual life lived to ...

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

400 pages, Hardcover

First published June 6, 2006

Reviews

[Vincent · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was stirred to read a biography of Upton Sinclair when I saw the Lanny Budd series of "spy" novels and after learning/realizing, from the movie Man, that he had run for Governor of California. He went from the author of the Jungle for me to a dynamic force in his lifetime - this biography is really good - I get the impression that the author, Anthony Arthur, probably read a lot of Sinclair's books and other works and did a very good job of presenting a difficult but maybe in a way simple man.
He was certainly a socialist and his views on Soviet Russia were skewered for some time but in the end Sinclair was an American it seems. I would read the book if you want to better understand the man and the times - he is almost Forest Gump like, he is not simple but boy he met so many of the people that influenced the world during his adult life.
The only caution I give, I am in the midst of reading the Lanny Budd series of novels (good in a unique way - and if one looks at the dates of publication and the content it is very impressive - so far) is that towards the end of the biography some of the events in the Lanny Budd series are revealed - not so many but some.
So if you are interested in American social history I would suggest this biography (I know there are others of Upton Sinclair but this one is good) and if you are at all a student of WW II I would suggest the Lanny Budd series looking always at the dates of publication - and reading them in order - the third of which, Dragon's Teeth, won the Pulitizer Prize in 1943. -

[Sherry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Upton Sinclair is portrayed as a radical (socialist, called a muckraker but like today's more politically correct 'investigative reporter') and as an innocent (approaching each relationship afresh with trust, even though he often gets burned). This book is revealing, easy to read, and a must-read for anyone who wants to find out more about Sinclair.

I included the tag of 'genealogy' because I wanted to discover more about my 20th cousin (ok, not close enough to invite to a family picnic, but blood nonetheless). Born in Baltimore and lived most of his life in California, I was surprised to find that Sinclair lived within 6-7 miles of here around 1903 with his first wife and child. He wrote The Jungle here! A favorite quote of mine about The Jungle: "I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach."

Upton Sinclair spent his last days in a nursing home in this county (Somerset, NJ).

[Jeffrey Sweet · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I wanted to know

Having made a project to read all of Upton Sinclair's Lanny Budd novels (I've begun the 11th and final one), I wanted to know how much of those books reflected his own experience. I come away with a high respect for Sinclair's powers of invention and his research, but Sinclair himself strikes me as kind of a jerk. Someone once said you meet your heroes at your risk. The same is true it seems of reading their biographies.

[Kiriann Sinbe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Historically interesting. I feel it was correct. The book in no way twisted the story to make the man into a hero. He appeared interested in accomplishing his goals and was utterly focused on those. Book dragged a bit for me, but I often read more than one book at a time.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent biography of the difficult and fascinating Upton Sinclair.

[Mike Zickar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this biography of Upton Sinclair, which covers the diverse breadth of Sinclair's contributions in a way that is generally well-paced and readable. For the most part, this book covers territory from a previous biography, Leon Harris's from 1975 (I believe), with this book uncovering what seemed to be much less original historical material compared to that previous effort. The book does, however, have more appreciation for Sinclair's later work, the Lanny Budd series, and covers that phase of Sinclair's life in more detail.

Sinclair was a singular figure in the history of American letters and this biography does a great job summarizing Sinclair's work while also not minimizing Sinclair's limitations and foibles.

[Craig Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read one of Sinclair's Lanny Budd novels, "Dragon's Teeth", I wanted to know a little more about the author. He was perhaps the best known American socialist of the 20th century and an unrepentant Stalinist to my knowledge.

The timing of his birth had a big impact, he turned 22 in 1900. A time of social and political change and also he caught the wave of increased sales of novels and media coverage of novelists. He grew up in small low rent apartments with a lot of family turmoil. At some point Sinclair dedicated himself to school work where he excelled and writing where he was convinced he would have a big impact.

I lost interest and stopped reading shortly after the fame of his book "The Jungle". So I jumped ahead to look for mention of a change in his opinion of the Soviet Union and Stalin. I did not find any significant change from Sinclair, there was apparently some moderation in disagreements with his son of this.

Overall I found the book well written and gave insight into the life and times of Upton Sinclair as I hoped.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting life of Siclair, but the biographer mangled the bits on Ludlow - were other things in error?

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was an enlightening and entertaining read. I found myself being surprised and yet unsurprised at the same time at the things I found out. It was definitely worth it.