Showing results by author "Sinclair Lewis" in All Categories

In short, Elmer is a drunken, womanizing hypocrite who becomes a Baptist minister, a position from which he is soon ejected. He then links up with star revivalist Sharon Falconer, who is heavily based on Aimee Semple McPherson. Throughout his career, Gantry moves through many settings and scenarios illustrating aspects of the American religion. With religion as entertainment and show business, both Elmer and Sharon are consummate performers. They are always on.

With his breathtaking social insight and his graceful sentences, Sinclair Lewis—a Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winner—stands out as one of the most important American writers of the 20th century. At turns lyrically soul-searching and scathing in its honesty, Babbitt captures the essence of the 1920s while remaining a timeless piece of literature. Babbitt, the ultimate conformist and social climber, seeks power in his community and self-esteem from others. Outwardly, he is the ultimate “big booster,” and he toes the company line with “zip and zowie.”

On the surface, everything is all right with Babbitt’s world of the solid, successful businessman. But in reality, George F. Babbitt is a lonely, middle-aged man. He doesn’t understand his family, has an unsuccessful attempt at an affair, and is almost financially ruined when he dares to voice sympathy for some striking workers. Babbitt finds that his only safety lies deep in the fold of those who play it safe. He is a man who has added a new word to our language: a “Babbitt,” meaning someone who conforms unthinkingly, a sheep.

A biting satire that countered the American myth of wholesome small-town life with a depiction of narrow-minded provincialism, it was to some degree based on Lewis's own experience of growing on Sauk Centre, Minnesota. Set in mid-1910s, it depicts the struggles of Carol Kennicott, a city girl, as she tries to adapt to small town life, having left her librarian job and St. Paul, Minnesota to marry Dr. Will Kennicott of Gopher Prairie. Dismayed by the town’s drabness and the conforming, petty inhabitants, Carol optimistically sets out to improve the town.

This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel tells the story of a young physician and researcher who dedicates himself to the pursuit of scientific truth even in the face of personal tragedy, corruption, and greed. At the time of its publication, this audiobook was voted "Exceptional Recording" by Talking Books Magazine.

Arrowsmith is the story of a brilliant man named Martin Arrowsmith, who has a passion for science and medicine, but with a weakness for women, money, and glory. As a child, Martin would spend his free time reading through the medical books in the local doctor’s practice. This interest leads him to medical school, and eventually Martin starts his own private practice in medicine, while getting married to Leora Tozer.

Buzz Windrip, für seine Gegner ein "ungebildeter Lügner mit idiotischer Weltanschauung" und ein gefährlicher Populist, will Präsidentschaftskandidat werden. Er gibt vor, sich für die kleinen Leute einzusetzen, und verspricht, "aus Amerika wieder ein stolzes Land zu machen". Trotz völlig unglaubwürdiger Versprechen laufen ihm die Wähler zu, und er zieht ins Weiße Haus ein. Sogleich regiert er wie ein absolutistischer Herrscher, beschneidet die Freiheiten der Minderheiten, legt sich mit Mexiko an.

Sinclair Lewis’ George F. Babbitt is a complicated and conflicted character. When you think you have his next move figured out, he surprises you. As you begin to like him, he does something to evoke the “what a rat” response. Male menopause wasn’t a pre-Great Depression term, but you could say George has all the symptoms....

Martin Arrowsmith is fascinated by science and medicine. As a boy, he immerses himself in Gray’s Anatomy. In medical school, he soaks up knowledge from his mentor, a renowned bacteriologist. But soon he is urged to focus on politics and promotions rather than his research. Even as Martin progresses from doctor to public health official and noted pathologist, he still yearns to devote his time to pure science.

Welcome to The Sinclair Lewis Library - a dignified little institution devoted to the careful airing of American ambition, middle-class certainty, and the curious art of taking oneself very seriously. Here, the streets are tidy, the rhetoric is polished, and the human comedy is forever peeking through the curtains. Each episode presents a full reading from Lewis’s novels, where boosters boast, reformers reform, and respectable citizens discover (sometimes to their alarm) that respectability can be the strangest costume of all.Settle in as boardrooms, parlors, laboratories, and Main Streets ...

Join Mike Vendetti, also known as Miketheauctioneer, as he brings to life Sinclair Lewis’ second novel, Trail of the Hawk. Although it didnt achieve the immediate acclaim of his later masterpieces like Babbitt and Elmer Gantry, this work showcases Lewis unique style and remarkable talent. Follow the journey of Carl Ericson, affectionately known as The Hawk, the son of Norwegian immigrants born at the close of the 19th century. Experience his adventurous youth as he escapes with Gertie Cowels, the girl from the affluent part of town, only to be rescued by Bone Stillman, a backwoods ...

The Job is an early masterpiece by American novelist Sinclair Lewis, serving as a groundbreaking declaration of the rights of working women. The narrative follows Una Golden, a determined young woman striving to carve out her own professional identity while navigating the societal pressures of marriage in the early 1900s. From her humble beginnings in a small Pennsylvania town to the bustling streets of New York City, Unas journey is sparked by a family crisis that compels her to work. She discovers her aptitude for the male-dominated world of commercial real estate, earning respect in her ...

In Sinclair Lewis groundbreaking novel, Main Street, we follow the journey of Carol Milford, a bright and ambitious young woman armed with a college education and a passion for progress. A self-sufficient librarian in St. Paul, she is swept off her feet by Will Kennicott, a country doctor who persuades her to leave her urban life behind for the rural town of Gopher Prairie. With dreams of transforming the town into a hub of art, culture, and child welfare, Carol is met with the harsh realities of small-town attitudes, ignorance, and bigotry that gradually stifle her spirit. First published in ...

Doremus Jessup, a newspaper editor, is dismayed to find that many of the people he knows support presidential candidate Berzelius Windrip. The suspiciously fascist Windrip is offering to save the nation from sex, crime, welfare cheats, and a liberal press. But after Windrip wins the election, dissent soon becomes dangerous for Jessup. Windrip forcibly gains control of Congress and the Supreme Court and, with the aid of his personal paramilitary storm troopers, turns the United States into a totalitarian state.

“Mr. and Mrs. Seth Appleby, though nearing the twilight of their years, still found joy in the simplest of gestures—holding hands and cuddling in the corners of their home. Seth, a man with a youthful spirit, cleverly navigates the annual challenge of securing two weeks off from his job at the shoe store to escape to Uncle Joe Tubbs farmhouse on Cape Cod. This year, however, their vacation takes an unexpected turn as they embark on a delightful scheme to open a charming country tea room. Little do they know, their lives are about to transform in ways they never imagined…” (Introduction...

Despite the traditional expectations of marriage placed on Una Golden in her small Pennsylvania town, she travels to New York to work due to a family illness. But once there, Una discovers a talent for the traditional male bastion of commercial real estate. However, while her company claims to value her work, Una struggles to achieve the same status of her male coworkers. Her unique role as a working woman, doing a man’s job, becomes a challenge in finding an appropriate suitor when Una decides it is time to marry after all.

Dive into the captivating tale of Elmer Gantry, where a young, charming, yet morally bankrupt salesman finds himself swept up in the world of evangelism. As Gantry navigates the fervent revivalist circuit, he encounters Sister Sharon Falconer, an inspiring lay preacher, and Lulu Bains, an old acquaintance turned prostitute. This gripping novel delves deep into themes of hypocrisy, greed, and the seductive power of fame. A bestseller at its release, it also inspired a remarkable 1960 film featuring Burt Lancaster as the enigmatic Gantry. - Summary by William Jones

At thirty-four, Mr. Wrenn is a humble sales-entry clerk at the Souvenir Company, often found hunched over bills and columns of figures in his inconspicuous blue ready-made suits. Despite his meek demeanor and small, unsuccessful mustache, Mr. Wrenn possesses a vibrant inner life fueled by his imagination. When he unexpectedly inherits a modest sum, he feels compelled to break free from his routine and embark on a journey of self-discovery. What follows is a series of adventures that reveal life to be far more captivating than he ever envisioned... (Introduction by Don Jenkins)

An early 20th century American story written in the Theodore Dreiser style of each word and chapter building on the previous ones, telling the saga of evangelical religion & people with irony throughout.

An early 20th century American story written in the Theodore Dreiser style of each word and chapter building on the previous ones, telling the saga of evangelical religion & people with irony throughout.