Upton Sinclair and the Other American Century

Kevin Mattson

Description

Praise for UPTON SINCLAIR and the other American Century

"I look forward to all of Kevin Mattson's works of history and I've notbeen disappointed yet. Upton Sinclair is a thoughtful, well-researched, and extremely eloquently told excavation of the history of theAmerican left and, indeed, the American nation, as well as a testamentto the power of one man to influence his times. Well done."
--Eric Alterman, author of When Presidents Lie: A History of Official Deception and Its Consequences

"A splendid read. It reminds you that real heroes once dwelt among us. Mattson not only captures Sinclair's character, but the world he inhabited, with deft strokes whose energy and passion easily match his subject's."
--Richard Parker, author of John Kenneth Galbraith: His Life, His Politics, His Economics

"From the meat-packing houses of Chicago to the automobile factories of Detroit to the voting booths of California, Upton Sinclair cut a wide swath as a muckraking writer who exposed the injustices rendered by American industrial capitalism. Now Kevin Mattson presents a much-needed exploration of this complex crusader. This is a thoughtful, provocative, and gripping account of an important figure who appeared equal parts intellectual, propagandist, and political combatant as he struggled to illuminate the 'other American century' inhabited by the poor and powerless."
--Steven Watts, author of The People's Tycoon: Henry Ford and the American Century
Acknowledgments.

Introduction: The Problem of Being Uppie.

One: “A Very Devout and Earnest Little Boy”: 1878–1892.

Two: “Would-be Singer and Penniless Rat”: 1892–1904.

Three: Socialist “Celebrity”: 1905–1914.

Four: War!

Five: “Prize Prude of the Radical Movement”: 1920–1930.

Six: A Brief Intermission—Uppie Goes to the Movies: 1930–1934.

Seven: I, Governor of California: 1934.

Eight: Beyond California, toward a Popular Front: 1935–1939.

Nine: Mr.Middlebrow Goes to War Again, Hot and Cold: 1940–1960.

Ten: Socialist Emeritus: 1960–1968.

Notes.

Index.

Sujets

• Literary Figures
• Lettres et linguistique
• Kevin Mattson
• Biography
• The Jungle
• History of the United States
• Autobiography
• La Jungle
• Upton Sinclair

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 02 mai 2008
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780470362310
• Langue: English

Extrait

UPTON SINCLAIR AND THE OTHER AMERICAN CENTURY
UPTON SINCLAIR

AND THE OTHER AMERICAN CENTURY
KEVIN MATTSON

John Wiley Sons, Inc.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Copyright 2006 by Kevin Mattson. All rights reserved
Published by John Wiley Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
Design and composition by Navta Associates. Inc.
Photo credits: All photos reprinted by permission of the Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Mattson, Kevin, date.
Upton Sinclair and the other American century / Kevin Mattson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13 978-0-471-72511-4 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-10 0-471-72511-0 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Sinclair, Upton, 1878-1968. 2. Novelists, American-20th century-Biography. 3. Social reformers-United States-Biography. 4. Social problems-United States-History-20th century. 5. Journalism-Social aspects. I. Title.
PS3537.I85Z97 2006
813 52-dc22
2005030450
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Jeff Boxer and the socialism of friendship
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Problem of Being Uppie
ONE A Very Devout and Earnest Little Boy : 1878-1892
TWO Would-be Singer and Penniless Rat : 1892-1904
THREE Socialist Celebrity : 1905-1914
FOUR War!
FIVE Prize Prude of the Radical Movement : 1920-1930
SIX A Brief Intermission-Uppie Goes to the Movies: 1930-1934
SEVEN I, Governor of California: 1934
EIGHT Beyond California, toward a Popular Front: 1935-1939
NINE Mr. Middlebrow Goes to War Again, Hot and Cold: 1940-1960
TEN Socialist Emeritus: 1960-1968

Notes
Index
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Some things in American intellectual life never change. Upton Sinclair always groveled for money to support his writing habit. In 1909 he wrote a very sad letter to Gaylord Wilshire, millionaire socialist, in which he desperately asked for money now that his royalties from The Jungle had been sunk into his communal living experiment, Helicon Hall. The place had burned to cinders. Reading the desperate tones in that letter made me wince.
I ve been luckier than Sinclair. The money has been found, and that is where my first set of thanks must go: First, to Patricia Connor Study, whose gracious support to my home institution of Ohio University helped me research this book. Second, to the Lilly Library and its Everett Helm fellowship. And also to Jim Rutman, my agent, who helped me deal with contracts and all that other capitalist stuff that I d rather not have to deal with.
Then there are those who helped out with the research and writing of this book: Jeff Bloodworth read through newspapers and other documents to help me push this project along. Shae Davidson was a master researcher who always turned up amazing things in ways that I truly appreciate. He fixed notes and did other things for which I cannot thank him enough. Everyone at the Lilly Library was very helpful, and I especially thank Saundra Taylor, who provided last-minute corrections. My editor, Eric Nelson, hung in there and gave me the support I needed, even when the race was on (he knows what that means). Believe it or not, besides making acquisitions, Eric actually edits books, and he does a superb job of it. My thanks also go to production editor Hope Breeman and to freelance copy editor Alexa Selph.
To those who came before me, I am indebted. Floyd Dell s biography of Sinclair, written in 1927, should still be read. There are some damn funny comments about ministers and Sinclair s quirks there, and a lot more. So too the biographies by Leon Harris and William Bloodworth. And, of course, Sinclair s own autobiography.
As Sinclair knew, money and the writing heroes who came before us are not everything in a writer s life. I have to thank those who helped out in other ways: my family first and foremost. My wife, Vicky, has been everything to me. Her commitment to social justice and a smart form of activism has inspired me. My son, Joseph, has made me prouder than I could ever have imagined, and it s been fun to take him on backpacking and fly-fishing trips that kept my sanity throughout this process. My mom gave me the sort of support that only a mom can offer. She even read this book. Finally, I dedicate the book to my friend Jeff, who is a labor lawyer and an intellectual. There are other friends, of course, and they know who they are. But Jeff came through some dark times with me, and I appreciate his trust in what I have become today.
INTRODUCTION

THE PROBLEM OF BEING UPPIE

OVERLEAF:
Upton Sinclair at his Beverly Hills home, 1933, writing outdoors as usual, one year before his failed campaign for governor in 1934

In the first place you must understand that I myself am a cause.
-UPTON SINCLAIR, 1926
Upton sinclair was famous. Photographers were taking his picture every day. The newspapers hounded him and asked him questions about what it was like to meet the president of the United States and what he would do now that his novel The Jungle had sold out in nearly every bookstore across the country. His response seemed bizarre. He said he would write a book explaining the doctrine of socialism to a wary audience. In it he would declare himself a scientist and prophet. The statement was telling. He could speak like a Moses, showing his people the promised land and performing miracles to get there, and also like a Darwin, explaining laws that were cold and clinical and lacking religion s certainty. The statement was a contradiction; no surprise, since he was a contradiction. 1
One of Sinclair s heroes was Walt Whitman, the great poet who extolled the virtues of ordinary people in a style befitting a democrat. Whitman wrote toward the end of his most famous poem, Song of Myself : Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes). Sinclair loved Whitman because this nineteenth-century poet believed in a programme of culture, drawn out, not for a single class alone, or for the parlors or lecture rooms, but with an eye to practical life, the working men. But Whitman s willingness to contradict himself must also have pleased Sinclair. 2
Sinclair lived Whitman s ethic, a life of contradiction, and sometimes even multitudes. He was like the country he inhabited, a country of contradictions and abundances. Sinclair was truly an American. As Time magazine pointed out, some would claim Sinclair an agent of Moscow, because of his radicalism. Even though the editors didn t like his politics, they had to admit that Upton Sinclair is as American as pumpkin pie. But his Americanism drew from his desire to call attention to the darker side of American life. He condemned the way the United States treated its immigrants, shoving them into crappy jobs and making them use their communal resources just to get by, while trumpeting the greatness of individualism, the glories of making money, and the virtue of pulling oneself up by the bootstraps. Sinclair could dissect the viciousness found in Chicago s meatpacking industry while clinging to his heroes like Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson-deeply American heroes who espoused deeply American ideals like equality and democracy. 3
B orn in 1878, a year after Reconstruction put a close to the Civil War, Sinclair died at the age of ninety in 1968, the year Richard Nixon was elected president. Those dates meant that Sinclair witnessed America s rise to industrial and global power. Henry Luce, the owner of Life magazine, a publication that Sinclair abhorred, declared midway through the twentieth century that sometime in 1940, or thereabouts, marked the beginning of the American century. It was a time when the nation would lead the free world because its greatness, established throughout the course of the twentieth century, was self-evident. Sinclair s life plays a key role in this American century. But it s a distinct role. He spoke not just to Luce s American century, but to the other American century, which began at the time of Sinclair s birth. It was evident in the mistreatment of immigrants th