Upton Sinclair

Upton Sinclair (1878-1968), American writer and social and economic reformer. Upton Beall Sinclair was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and educated at the College of the City of New York and Columbia University. Although he was unsuccessful as a Socialist Party candidate for political office, his vigorous criticism of abuses in American economic and social life helped lay the groundwork for a number of reforms. In the 1920s he helped found the American Civil Liberties Union.

The author of 90 books, Sinclair became well known after the publication of his novel The Jungle (1906), which exposed the unsanitary and miserable working conditions in the stockyards of Chicago, Illinois, and led to an investigation by the federal government and the subsequent passage of pure food laws. Sinclair wrote other social and political novels and studies advocating prohibition and criticizing the newspaper industry. His well-known series of 11 novels concerned with Lanny Budd, a wealthy American secret agent who participates in important international events, includes World's End (1940) and Dragon's Teeth (1942), which dealt with Germany under the Nazis and won the 1943 Pulitzer Prize in fiction. He also wrote The Autobiography of Upton Sinclair (1962).