Historical Context
Upton Sinclair was born in 1878 in Baltimore, Maryland to parents who were part of the recently gutted Southern aristocracy.
His family moved to New York City when Sinclair was 10 years old, where he went on to attend the City College of New York and then Columbia University. During his years there, he supported himself by writing for pulp fiction magazines. Under pseudonyms, he wrote upwards of 100 dime novels for such publishers as Street and Smith — churning out about one of these books per week during that time.
Sinclair went on to write almost as many books in his career, about 90. These include The Jungle, which had enormous social impact and earned Sinclair a name for himself; Metropolis; Oil!; King Coal; and the Lanny Budd series, which included the novel for which he won the 1943 Pulitzer Prize, Dragon's Teeth.
Sinclair was passionately involved in political and economic issues, running on the Socialist ticket and later on the Democratic ticket for various public offices. Moreover, he founded several organizations, such as the Authors League of America, the Southern California chapter of the ACLU, the Intercollegiate Socialist Society, and the EPIC (End Poverty in California) League.
Written by Laura Daugherty
