Upton Sinclair

Upton Sinclair (1878–1968) was born in Baltimore into a family that oscillated between poverty and genteel respectability—a contrast that fueled his lifelong crusade against economic inequality. He attended the City College of New York and Columbia University, supporting himself by writing dime novels, before committing his pen to social reform. In 1904, the socialist newspaper Appeal to Reason commissioned him to investigate conditions in Chicago's meatpacking industry; the result, published in 1906, was The Jungle. This author hub collects 1 work in the Canon Compass ranking, led by The Jungle.