Upton Sinclair

Short biography of Upton Sinclair

Upton Beall Sinclair, Jr. (September 20, 1878 – November 25, 1968) was an American author and socialist who wrote nearly 100 books and other works across a number of genres. Sinclair’s work was well known and popular in the first half of the 20th century, and he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1943. He played a significant role in the development of the American left, writing dozens of fiction and non-fiction books on political, social, and economic issues. Much of his work was based on the American working class and labor movement.

Early life Sinclair was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on September 20, 1878. His father, Upton Beall Sinclair, Sr., was a liquor salesman; his mother, Priscilla Harden, was a schoolteacher. His parents were of Scottish and English ancestry. He had an older brother, Frederick, and a younger sister, Helen. Sinclair’s family lived in poverty for much of his childhood. His father’s alcoholism and financial problems caused Sinclair’s parents to divorce when he was 15 years old. His mother subsequently married an abusive man, Edmund Montgomery. Sinclair’s stepfather died in a train accident when Sinclair was 17 years old.Sinclair began working at age 10 to help support his family. He worked in a cannery, a meatpacking plant, and a factory that made hats. He also worked as a reporter for a local newspaper, the New York Journal. Sinclair’s first published article appeared in that newspaper when he was 13 years old. Sinclair attended City College of New York (CCNY) for one semester before dropping out to support himself financially. He then moved to Princeton, New Jersey, where he worked as a journalist for the Princeton Packet. While in Princeton, Sinclair began writing fiction. He published his first novel, Springtime and Harvest, in 1901.CareerSinclair’s first great success came with the publication of The Jungle in 1906. The novel exposed the conditions of the meatpacking industry in the United States to the American public. The Jungle was a best-seller, and Sinclair used the money he earned from the book to fund the Socialist newspaper, The Appeal to Reason. The newspaper had a circulation of 750,000, making it the largest Socialist newspaper in the country.

In 1915, Sinclair ran for office in California on the Socialist ticket. He was defeated, but he continued to speak out on behalf of Socialist causes. He also wrote several more novels, including King Coal (1917), Oil! (1927), and Dragon’s Teeth (1942).In the 1930s, Sinclair became increasingly critical of the Soviet Union. He traveled to the USSR in 1931 and was unimpressed with what he saw. He wrote several books about his experiences, including I, Candidate for Governor: And How I Got Licked (1934) and The Goose-Step.

General Essay Structure for this Topic

1. The Jungle: A Book About the Immigrant Experience
2. The Jungle: A Book About the Horrors of the Meatpacking Industry
3. The Jungle: A Book About the Struggle for Workers’ Rights
4. The Jungle: A Book About Poverty and desperation
5. The Jungle: A Book About Hope and Survival
6. The Jungle: A Book About courage and determination
7. The Jungle: A Book About the American Dream
8. The Jungle: A Book About the Power of Unity
9. The Jungle: A Book About the Importance of Family
10. The Jungle: A Book About the Human Spirit

Important information

Spouse: Mary Elizabeth Hard Willis (m. 1961–1967), Mary Craig Sinclair (m. 1913–1961)

Awards: Pulitzer Prize for Fiction