“Samuel the Seeker”, the social/political satire introduces us to Samuel Prescott, a young man who sets out on a journey to make his fortune after his father loses everything in a bad stock market investment. As he travels, Samuel is exposed to the harsh realities of society and the various ideologies that people adopt to make sense of it all....More
Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. (September 20, 1878 – November 25, 1968) was an American writer and political activist who wrote nearly 100 books and other works in several 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.
In 1906, Sinclair acquired particular fame for his classic muck-raking novel The Jungle, which exposed labor and sanitary conditions in the U.S. meatpacking industry, causing a public uproar.
Many of his novels can be read as historical works. Writing during the Progressive Era, Sinclair describes the world of the industrialized United States from both the working man's and the industrialist's points of view. Novels such as King...More
Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. (September 20, 1878 – November 25, 1968) was an American writer and political activist who wrote nearly 100 books and other works in several 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.
In 1906, Sinclair acquired particular fame for his classic muck-raking novel The Jungle, which exposed labor and sanitary conditions in the U.S. meatpacking industry, causing a public uproar.
Many of his novels can be read as historical works. Writing during the Progressive Era, Sinclair describes the world of the industrialized United States from both the working man's and the industrialist's points of view. Novels such as King Coal (1917), The Coal War (published posthumously), Oil! (1927), and The Flivver King (1937) describe the working conditions of the coal, oil, and auto industries at the time.
Sinclair was an outspoken socialist and ran unsuccessfully for Congress as a nominee from the Socialist Party. He was also the Democratic Party candidate for Governor of California during the Great Depression, running under the banner of the End Poverty in California campaign, but was defeated in the 1934 elections.
Book Summary
“Samuel the Seeker”, the social/political satire introduces us to Samuel Prescott, a young man who sets out on a journey to make his fortune after his father loses everything in a bad stock market investment. As he travels, Samuel is exposed to the harsh realities of society and the various ideologies that people adopt to make sense of it all. Sinclair uses Samuel as a satirical device to expose the hypocrisies and fallacies of the world, as he eagerly adopts every philosophy introduced to him, only to see them crumble under the weight of his experiences. Samuel is confronted with every form of social injustice and societal ill.
Upton Sinclair
