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Babbit is a book written by Sinclair Lewis. It is widely considered to be one of the top 100 greatest books of all time. This great novel will surely attract a whole new generation of readers. For many, Babbit is required reading for various courses and curriculums. And for others who simply enjoy reading timeless pieces of classic literature, this gem by Sinclair Lewis is highly recommended. Published by Quill Pen Classics and beautifully produced, Babbit would make an ideal gift and it should be a part of everyone's personal library. ... Read more

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Babbitt
Free Air
The Innocents
The Job
Main Street
Our Mr. Wrenn
The Trail of the Hawk ... Read more

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The ticket-taker of the Nickelorion Moving-Picture Show is a public personagewho stands out on Fourteenth StreetNew Yorkwearing a gorgeous light-blue coat of numerous brass buttons. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Excellent Ebook
Our Mr. Wrenn. The Romantic Adventures of a Gentle Man by Sinclair Lewis. Published by MobileReference (mobi).

Excellent read, extremely interesting and intelligent prose. If you enjoy it half as much as I did, you'll love it.

A good, dull friend, not a playmate, cures loneliness
For whatever reason you choose to read the novels of Sinclair Lewis and no matter what you are looking for (e.g.his attack on Rotary Clubs, amusing lists of place names, 20th century American colloguialisms, etc.), there are certain people or things which will pop up at you again and again. There is a quixotic young man or woman (or both) yearning to chuck job, neighborhood, small town or boredom for travel and adventure in at least relatively exotic places, yearning hotly for "somewhere else." There is personal loneliness and the hero's growing sense that being lonely is the greatest problem of his life. Experiments are made to counteract loneliness: plunging feverishly into work, seeking unattainable women friends, settling for conventional but reliable male friends, or such blind alleys as drink and dissipation.

Can narrowly focused work alone make a man happy? Must a man have more interests than his work, no matter how distracting those "temptations" are: e.g. golf, a wife, going to operas, children, travel? Can anyone possibly "have it all?" If not, is it desirable to strike a balance between work and play?

Lewis's first novel, the 1914 OUR MR. WRENN: THE ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF A GENTLEMAN probes such questions. William Wrenn, age 34 in 1910, is a bachelor who frequents motion picture halls and saves his pennies for travel to fabulous India or Java. He has worked for some years for a New York job house buying and selling knickknacks. One fine day, he gets a modest legacy which permits him to quit his work, give notice to the landlady of his boarding house and ship out on a cattle boat for Liverpool. During a few weeks in London and tramping about the English countryside Our Mr. Wrenn continues evolving into his latent personality "Bill Wrenn," a bully boy tough who had proven himself with his fists on the cattle boat. In London Wrenn meets the gorgeous red headed art student Istra Nash who teaches him to "play" with her and be on the lookout with her for rare "interesting persons. But Istra treats him in a motherly albeit palsy way and usually calls him "Mousey," a name he only slowly outgrows thanks to the all too often listless "Bill Wrenn" within him. Istra's key question to him is, "Who do you play with --know?"

In Wrenn's case, at least, "playing" or dalliance is not a permanent solution to loneliness. He had tried a he man version of it earlier with a comrade on the cattle boat. But playmates of either sex are footloose and do not want permanence or commitment. Nor is Wrenn much tempted by alcohol or sex. Our Mr. Wrenn decides that for him happiness will somehow have to be built on "The Job" back in New York, on any humdrum unimaginative friends he will be lucky to meet and on not much else.

Back in New York, Our Mr. Wrenn hurls himself into work with his new found Bill Wrenn drive and hustle and begins to rise within the company. He marries Nelly Croubel, a lingerie saleswoman who offers not much as a playmate, but is kind and loving. His striving, his quest all fall into place for William/Bill during an ordinary walk with his ordinary girl (Ch. XVI): "Then, in a millionth of a second, he who had been a wanderer in the lonely grey regions of a detached man's heart knew the pity of love, all its emotion, and the infinite care for the beloved that makes a man of a rusty sales-clerk." -OOO-
... Read more

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Arrowsmith has been described as the first ever scientific novel. It is certainly one of the greatest. Written by Nobel prize winner Sinclair Lewis and scientist Paul de Kruif it both satirises medical practice and predicts the momentous changes that were beginning to occur.This new version of Lewis's masterpiece is brought to you by Penny Books.Amazon.com Review
As the son and grandson of physicians, Sinclair Lewis had astore of experiences and imparted knowledge to draw upon forArrowsmith.Published in 1925, after three years ofanticipation, the book follows the life of Martin Arrowsmith, a ratherordinary fellow who gets his first taste of medicine at 14 as anassistant to the drunken physician in his home town. It is LeoraTozer who makes Martin's life extraordinary. With vitality and love,she urges him beyond the confines of the mundane to risk answering histrue calling as a scientist and researcher. Not even her tragic deathcan extinguish her spirit or her impact on Martin's life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (47)

A forgotten classic
This has to be one of the greatest medical/scientific novels but rarely seems to be read these days. Lewis won the Pulitzer prize for it and later won a Nobel literature prize but he seems generally forgotten these days.
Anyways I think this is his best book - a great insight into scientific research as well as a cracking story.

Excellent, Unusual Lewis
Arrowsmith is one of Sinclair Lewis' best works and has an important place in American literature. A major twentieth century novel, it is essential for anyone interested in Lewis, and multiple differences from his other work make it worthwhile for others.

The book has significant style and plot similarities to prior Lewis novels; for example, the small town/country doctor bit recalls Main Street, and the Zenith section recalls - and even briefly features the title character of - Babbitt. Lewis is known as a satirist, and those novels virtually epitomize the genre, but Arrowsmith is not satire. It has satirical elements and is sometimes humorous but is essentially a straight realist novel with a more or less straight-up hero. Thus, though Lewis' absolute realism mastery is as strong as ever, one might think Arrowsmith sounds pedestrian or dull. This is thankfully not so because the title hero was a new type - an exponent of scientific idealism. The novel initially seems to offer an interesting but inherently limited inside look at the early twentieth century medical profession and is indeed valuable here as far as it goes. We get a good idea of what things such as medical school, internships, country practice, public health, and urban practice were like. Medicine has of course changed much since Arrowsmith's 1925 publication, giving it notable historical value, but the depiction is still largely accurate, lending considerable insight into an important profession. Lewis' usual excellences are also on prominent display. We get a panoramic grand tour of post-World War I, pre-Great Depression America from mid-size and urban Midwestern towns to the rural West to Chicago, New York, and more. Anyone curious about the era will learn much about everything from speech to social etiquette to fashion. We even get a rare up-close glimpse of an exotic non-American setting; this section is noteworthy for its grim realism and tragedy, showing Lewis has more range than he usually gets credit for. Lewis also continues his penetrating analysis of all that was hollow and cheap about American society, critiquing capitalism and honing in on race, class, and gender issues among others. He was noticeably ahead of his time here and says much that is important.

Far more significant, though, is Lewis' portrait of Arrowsmith the scientist, an idealist dedicated to pure research. Like Main, the novel came at just the right time to ride a cultural wave; the idolization - one might almost say "cult" - of science so prominent in American society was really beginning, and Arrowsmith became its prototype. This vehicle lets Lewis explore important themes like the pros and cons of various medical specialties, medical ethics, medicine's social role, the economics of medicine, etc. The central issue is the all-important question of pure vs. applied research; Lewis clearly champions the latter but makes good arguments for the former, which cannot simply be dismissed.

Yet this is not just a book about medicine or science; Arrowsmith has typological significance beyond the obvious. Critics of Main and Babbitt often complain that Lewis fails to see or ignores the near-spiritual idealism at Americana's heart. Arrowsmith takes it up. The protagonist's devotion to science is in many ways only a then-new way of showing the remarkable single-minded devotion running through American culture from the Puritans to the Founding Fathers to the Transcendentalists to Lincoln to the Progressive Era - to the science aesthetic. Arrowsmith was thus both the new and the classic American gospel, and Lewis preached to a supremely receptive audience, making him almost as much journalist as prophet. Like other Lewis works, the novel is thus worth reading as the portrait of an era, epitomizing a spiritual strain prominent before the Depression. But is also more than this - in fact speaks to a yearning at American culture's very heart. We may or may not agree with Arrowsmith; we may not even like him, as he can be easily denigrated in several ways. However, he is a hero in a way prior Lewis protagonists were not; Lewis clearly sympathizes rather than using him as a mockery target. A magnificent creation, fully alive and thoroughly believable, he is one of Lewis' best characters. Secondary characters are also unusually strong; Lewis had been lambasted for stock types, and there are certainly some here, but the major characters Leora and Gottlieb are also great. The former is widely recognized as Lewis' best female character, more earthy and sympathetic than Main's ambivalently depicted Carol; the latter is an idealist much like Arrowsmith but with many of his own nuances. Even less fully drawn characters are invariably interesting, bringing out these three by contrast or giving comic relief.

The novel is not perfect. Its uniqueness may disappoint those wanting Lewis' usual style, though enough of that remains for its detractors to be unsatisfied also. For instance, some object to his episodic plots; Arrowsmith is more tightly written than Main or Babbitt but still essentially episodic, and tactics used to make it seem less so - recurring characters, a "Where are they now?" ending that still seems arbitrary - often seem contrived. Some may also find the ending, with its overt modernization of Transcendentalism's nature obsession, quite strained. That said, execution is generally strong, and Lewis' conversational verisimilitude is at full strength.

All told, this is a must for fans, but anyone curious about Lewis should know that this is not representative. Elmer Gantry, Main, and Babbitt are probably better introductions, and those who do not like Arrowsmith should try one of them. In the end, though, the novel is strong enough to stand on its own and is highly recommended for anyone interested in American literature.

As for this edition, it has a fine Afterword by noted Lewis scholar Mark Schorer with background on Lewis, the novel, and the historical context plus some initial analysis; there is also a short bibliography. Several later editions are likely at least as good, but anyone who comes across this will get a quality version.

Excellent, Unusual Lewis
Arrowsmith is one of Sinclair Lewis' best works and has an important place in American literature. A major twentieth century novel, it is essential for anyone interested in Lewis, and multiple differences from his other work make it worthwhile for others.

The book has significant style and plot similarities to prior Lewis novels; for example, the small town/country doctor bit recalls Main Street, and the Zenith section recalls - and even briefly features the title character of - Babbitt. Lewis is known as a satirist, and those novels virtually epitomize the genre, but Arrowsmith is not satire. It has satirical elements and is sometimes humorous but is essentially a straight realist novel with a more or less straight-up hero. Thus, though Lewis' absolute realism mastery is as strong as ever, one might think Arrowsmith sounds pedestrian or dull. This is thankfully not so because the title hero was a new type - an exponent of scientific idealism. The novel initially seems to offer an interesting but inherently limited inside look at the early twentieth century medical profession and is indeed valuable here as far as it goes. We get a good idea of what things such as medical school, internships, country practice, public health, and urban practice were like. Medicine has of course changed much since Arrowsmith's 1925 publication, giving it notable historical value, but the depiction is still largely accurate, lending considerable insight into an important profession. Lewis' usual excellences are also on prominent display. We get a panoramic grand tour of post-World War I, pre-Great Depression America from mid-size and urban Midwestern towns to the rural West to Chicago, New York, and more. Anyone curious about the era will learn much about everything from speech to social etiquette to fashion. We even get a rare up-close glimpse of an exotic non-American setting; this section is noteworthy for its grim realism and tragedy, showing Lewis has more range than he usually gets credit for. Lewis also continues his penetrating analysis of all that was hollow and cheap about American society, critiquing capitalism and honing in on race, class, and gender issues among others. He was noticeably ahead of his time here and says much that is important.

Far more significant, though, is Lewis' portrait of Arrowsmith the scientist, an idealist dedicated to pure research. Like Main, the novel came at just the right time to ride a cultural wave; the idolization - one might almost say "cult" - of science so prominent in American society was really beginning, and Arrowsmith became its prototype. This vehicle lets Lewis explore important themes like the pros and cons of various medical specialties, medical ethics, medicine's social role, the economics of medicine, etc. The central issue is the all-important question of pure vs. applied research; Lewis clearly champions the latter but makes good arguments for the former, which cannot simply be dismissed.

Yet this is not just a book about medicine or science; Arrowsmith has typological significance beyond the obvious. Critics of Main and Babbitt often complain that Lewis fails to see or ignores the near-spiritual idealism at Americana's heart. Arrowsmith takes it up. The protagonist's devotion to science is in many ways only a then-new way of showing the remarkable single-minded devotion running through American culture from the Puritans to the Founding Fathers to the Transcendentalists to Lincoln to the Progressive Era - to the science aesthetic. Arrowsmith was thus both the new and the classic American gospel, and Lewis preached to a supremely receptive audience, making him almost as much journalist as prophet. Like other Lewis works, the novel is thus worth reading as the portrait of an era, epitomizing a spiritual strain prominent before the Depression. But is also more than this - in fact speaks to a yearning at American culture's very heart. We may or may not agree with Arrowsmith; we may not even like him, as he can be easily denigrated in several ways. However, he is a hero in a way prior Lewis protagonists were not; Lewis clearly sympathizes rather than using him as a mockery target. A magnificent creation, fully alive and thoroughly believable, he is one of Lewis' best characters. Secondary characters are also unusually strong; Lewis had been lambasted for stock types, and there are certainly some here, but the major characters Leora and Gottlieb are also great. The former is widely recognized as Lewis' best female character, more earthy and sympathetic than Main's ambivalently depicted Carol; the latter is an idealist much like Arrowsmith but with many of his own nuances. Even less fully drawn characters are invariably interesting, bringing out these three by contrast or giving comic relief.

The novel is not perfect. Its uniqueness may disappoint those wanting Lewis' usual style, though enough of that remains for its detractors to be unsatisfied also. For instance, some object to his episodic plots; Arrowsmith is more tightly written than Main or Babbitt but still essentially episodic, and tactics used to make it seem less so - recurring characters, a "Where are they now?" ending that still seems arbitrary - often seem contrived. Some may also find the ending, with its overt modernization of Transcendentalism's nature obsession, quite strained. That said, execution is generally strong, and Lewis' conversational verisimilitude is at full strength.

All told, this is a must for fans, but anyone curious about Lewis should know that this is not representative. Elmer Gantry, Main, and Babbitt are probably better introductions, and those who do not like Arrowsmith should try one of them. In the end, though, the novel is strong enough to stand on its own and is highly recommended for anyone interested in American literature.

What a Great Doctor -- the Great Man Theory's Proof
Intellectually driven people are as F. Scott Fitzgerald would say: different.Eponymously named, this book follows the post-collegiate years of Arrowsmith to his early midlife, with great tales of unending frustration of not being the captain of his own ship.

Often we love to watch the weak excel and do extraordinary things - Forrest Gump being the most obvious.But, after such people achieve such great goals, we learn they are more than just "different" but really extraordinary.

Being a medical student, one would think Arrowsmith is extraordinary.But, we learn, his struggles in and out of school are quite reflective of an ordinary person with ordinary abilities.Being thrust out of towns in South Dakota and Iowa, he seems to be a wrong fit for even grossly normal society.

But, catlike coincidences abound and he ends up stopping the plague in the West Indies, and has experiments successfully deliver answers to medical mysteries which no man had previously resolved.His unending intellectual appetite never subsides, and from his perseverance he can assert acclaim and even fortune.

But, his quest is not for anything more than the hunger to kill for more intellectual achievement.Noble is the man who seeks to help other man.Not the man who seeks to pad his own pocket with pharmaceuticals or patents or other money-constituted ventures which many people did or would do in his position. Arrowsmith is a rare man in American capitalistic society.

Even after marrying a multi-millionaire (after being a widower to a plain Jane girl from the Dakotas), he wants to be left out of society's primrose elite and seeks retreat to forested Vermont, with outhouses and laboratories which cannot be interrupted. He is the personification of the great man theory: a philosophical theory that aims to explain history by the impact of `great men', or heroes: highly influential individuals who, due to either their personal charisma, intelligence and wisdom or Machiavellianism, used power in a way that had a decisive historical impact.

It has been many years since reading a Sinclair Lewis novel - in fact this is the first time I did so voluntarily. Babbittand Main Street were required reading in junior or senior high.And, whenever you are required to read something, it seems to be less satisfying.

I was very impressed and pleasantly surprised that this author is as good as the teachers had apparently thought he was.

Strangely compelling
Lewis writes, in very basic prose, of a turn-of-the-century man and his love for science. We follow young Martin Arrowsmith through his schooling and then into the upper echelons of doctor's officies, hospitals and laboratories. He grapples with several women and gradually finds himself staring down the figurative barrel of an increasingly-ignorant and hypocritical society. Some things go well for Arrowsmith, some things don't, and it's all wrapped up with a climactic, surreal and satisfying conclusion. I'd say it's a Great American Novel if there ever was one, and certainly another testament to Lewis's mastery.

And oddly enough, I found Arrowsmith's story to be every bit as compelling as the finest of the thriller and mystery genres. A cursory glance will more than likely yield skepticism, but give it a few pages and you'll more than likely be hooked. Despite its subject matter, the novel rarely demands familiarity with the world of science and medicine. Lewis's writing is simple, easy to follow along with, and never dry or rambling. Those who are tired of being force-fed Fitzgerald and Steinbeck and Salinger, but still want to sample some of the early 20th Century's greatest literature, should invest some time in Lewis's work. He's a criminally overlooked novelist who deserves a hell of a lot more attention than he gets these days. ... Read more

Product Description
The only one of Sinclair Lewis's later novels to match the power of Main Street, Babbitt, and Arrowsmith, It Can't Happen Here is a cautionary tale about the fragility of democracy, an alarming, eerily timeless look at how fascism could take hold in America. Written during the Great Depression when America was largely oblivious to Hitler's aggression, it juxtaposes sharp political satire with the chillingly realistic rise of a President who becomes a dictator to save the nation from welfare cheats, rampant promiscuity, crime, and a liberal press. Now finally back in print, It Can't Happen Here remains uniquely important, a shockingly prescient novel that's as fresh and contemporary as today's news. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (64)

Great book!
This book is difficult to get into. The beginning was boring to me and I gave up at page 14. However, I revisited the novel and once I got past the first 14 pages, I couldn't put it down. Great story! After it was over, I was wanting more!

Surprisingly Realistic and Prophetic
Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951) was on-target with this raw look at the dangers of Fascism taking hold in the USA.In these frightful pages an unscrupulous Buzz Windrip is elected President in 1936 on a platform of Corpism - giving all jobless work and each family $5,000.Once elected, Windrup uses his personal police force (Minute Men) to arrest Congress after they refuse to surrender their power. Soon there is martial law, with the Minute Men running forced labor camps for jobless, andconcentration camps and special courts for dissenters.Witnessing this is newspaperman Doremus Jessup from Vermont, plus his friends and neighbors.After trying to flee to Canada, Jessup ends up in a Concentration camp.There his fellow prisoners are beaten, urged to turn in their friends, and sometimes shot without trial.After two years of this nightmare, a ray of hope appears.President Windrup is deposed in a coup, his even-worse desposer is murdered in another, and a sort of revolution begins seeking to restore Democracy to the USA.

Sinclair Lewis wrote this book in 1935, two years after Hitler grabbed total power in Germany during the Great Depression.The parallels to Nazi Germany are obvious (Corpos=Nazis, Minute Men=Gestapo).Too bad few saw the danger as clearly as this author.Lewis has a slightly thick style, but these pages soon fly past the reader, and remain a solid reminder of the fragile nature of democracy and freedom.

I clenched my teeth while reading
hubby said I was extra cranky while reading this but man-o-man it was easy to get into the spirit. We just happened to watched "the pianist" right before I started reading and I thought it tied nicely into the theme of how people react under threat of mass extermination. other reviewers did a good job so I won't say anything else. Highly recommended.

Vigilance is the price
This is the story of Senator Windrip, a populist demagogue who whips up a willfully ignorant, proudly anti-intellectual rabble dissatisfied with their own lives and willing to point the finger of blame ever outward, never inward. Windrip rides the wave of their dissatisfaction into the White House, dismantles our Democracy and establishes the American Fascist Dictatorship.

The title is of course intentionally ironic; the book demonstrates how it most certainly CAN happen here. As such, it serves as a guide to spotting looming Fascism so we can avoid making the mistake of voting for it as the Germans once did.

Literarily, this novel is certainly a product of its age. To my modern ears, the dialog seems forced, unnatural, as if everyone is going around trying to impress everyone else with how swell they are, and everyone is trying to out-swell each other. Any more swell, and we'd need a cut-man to see anything.

Mostly, I found these characters cartoonish at best, caricatures at worst, as if placed there by someone who knew no people but imagined they're something like this.I couldn't identify with anyone, and felt little sympathy with them.On the contrary, I found them such an annoying bunch, I would've been happy if they'd all been taken out and shot, which did happen, but not enough.Really -- for people who begin a sentence with "What ho!" shooting is too good; defenestration is indicated.

That aside, however, I find the plot believable. Like 1984, It Can't Happen Here is not a prediction of what will happen, but rather a prediction of what will happen if we aren't careful. We certainly have populist demagogues in our midst today, and why are such people in politics? Not to serve, that's for sure. Citizens in a Democracy would do well to remember, every single day, that Hitler was elected. This book serves as one such reminder, that "Nobody takes power. They're given power by the rest of us, because we are stupid or afraid or both." (J. Michael Straczynski).

Sadly, those who America most needs to read this book are those least likely to do so; willfully ignorant, proudly anti-intellectual, they will vote for Windrip despite all warnings.

As Prophetic as "1984"
First of all, you have to have patience while reading this book. It is written very much in the style of its time - it is very literary. It's not a book that you can rush through; it takes time to get through it. But as the story unfolds, I guarantee you will see some very disturbing things that are eerily familiar to our time. There are so many parallels in this book with what we observed in the last presidential administration: military tribunals, attacking people who speak out against the government, people spying on each other, warrantless wiretaps, takeover of the media by propagandists. This book, like "1984", should serve as a warning to all Americans that a fascist dictatorship CAN happen here - it nearly did in 2000 and 2004 - and that it behooves all of us to safeguard our democracy because it can so easily and quickly be taken away. All it took in "It Can't Happen Here" was ignorance, laziness, and gullibility on the part of voters to put a fascist dictator in office.

Read this book. It could save our country. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A STUDY OF A FAILING MARRIAGE AND A MAN IN MID-LIFE CRISIS
DODSWORTH IS A PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY OF A FAILING MARRIAGE AND THE HUSBAND'S EMOTIONAL CRISIS AS HE FACES THIS FACT - AND THAT OF HIS RETIREMENT FROM INDUSTRY. SAM DODSWORTH IS A SELF MADE INDUSTRIALIST - SUCCESSFUL ANDWEALTHY IN HIS HOME TOWN OF ZENITH, USA. ENCOURAGED BY HIS WIFE OF OVER 20YEARS, HE RETIRES AND AGREES TO ACCOMPANY HER ON A LONG TOUR OF EUROPE -PERHAPS TO EVEN EVENTUALLY LIVE THERE. HIS WIFE, YOUNGER THAN HIM AND BOREDBY THE PROVINCIALISM OF ZENITH, HER HUSBAND, AND THE LACK OF GLAMOUR ANDROMANCE IN HER LIFE, IS HOPING TO FIND A NEW EXCITING LIFE ABROAD. SHE ISSEEKING GLITZ AND HIGH-SOCIETY. IN EUROPE, SAM FACES AN EMOTIONAL CRISIS ASHIS MARRIAGE CRUMBLES, HIS WIFE LEAVES HIM FOR ANOTHER MAN, AND HEDISCOVERS HIS WIFE'S CONCEALED HOSTILITY TOWARDS HIM AS A BUMBLING, CRUDE,CLOD - A MAN LACKING THE CLASS AND STYLE OF THE SUAVE EUROPEAN MEN SHEMEETS AND ADMIRES. SAM ALSO, DUE TO HIS RETIREMENT, LOSES HIS IDENTITY AS ASUCCESSFUL, AMERICAN INDUSTRIALIST. THE BOOK EXAMINES THIS MIDDLE-AGED MANIN CRISIS, ATTEMPTING TO DISCOVER HOW HE WILL LIVE THE REST OF HIS LIFE. ASA PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY, THE BOOK IS EXTREMELY INSIGHTFUL AND ABSORBING.HOWEVER, MUCH OF THE BOOK IS TAKEN UP WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF 'SIGHTS ANDPLACES' ABROAD, AND IDLE CHIT-CHAT COMPARING EUROPEANS AND AMERICANS. THESEPARTS, I FOUND TO BE LESS INTERESTING, THAN THE STUDY OF SAM AND HOW HEWILL COPE WITH THE REST OF HIS LIFE.

Also ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (8)

The Unexamined Life
This is a great read.Not many novels can cause a person to see his/her life in a different light but this one is likely to.Just as topical today as when it was published.Some of Babbit's politics are very similar to the Republican Party and the Tea Party of the present.But it's not about politics, -it's about being a conformist and likely a coward.I can be as cowardly as the next person so I should know!Though I've read some novels that were just this good, I haven't read a better novel in the last year, -maybe the last decade.

What Bill R. Moore Said.
I was going to write a flimsy review of this book, but after reading Bill R. Moore's post I figured "Why bother?"That guy said it all.I will only add that the beginning was interminable, with nothing happening and reading like an endless character sketch.The book improved as it went on, so I did not pitch it into the recycling bin as I thought I might early on.I was satisfied with the ending, which was very realistic to me.Yes, Babbitt went back to his old values and beliefs, but his midlife crisis served him well.We may not be able to change our essential nature, but we can learn from experiences along the way, which Babbitt demonstrated in his advice to his son at the end.The Babbitt at the beginning of the book would not have said the same things.

Who is George F. Babbitt?
I just spent fourteen hours over the last couple of weeks with George F. Babbitt, listening to the audio version of Babbitt.I wouldn't recommend his company to anyone.He is a joiner, follower, flaky, unreliable and a man of no agency.Things happen to him and he acts or reacts trying to sound out what he thinks others might think best of him.

George F. Babbitt is not my friend, no matter how much time I have spent with him recently.I wouldn't suspect you want to be his friend either.I suppose that this is a credit to what I think of your character.As for Babbitt though, he is an interesting character, but I don't know if Lewis created a new archetype or just adapted one.I think this is a triumph no matter, as he created a character sketch that is effective but never defines the character.

I still don't know who George F. Babbitt is, do you?

4.75 Stars -- Another Great Lewis Work
1922's Babbitt is one of Sinclair Lewis' best works and one of the best twentieth century American novels, essential for anyone interested in Lewis or the era.

Main Street, Lewis' prior novel and breakthrough, satirizes American small town life and depicts the New Woman; Babbitt satirizes American urban life and depicts the American Everyman. The latter is its best-known and most insightful aspect. The character of Babbitt epitomizes 1920s' middle class values; obsessed with consumerism and money making, he embodies conservatism, Republican politics, and WASP supremacy. In short, Lewis deftly drew the kind of American then growing more common each year - and more importantly, the ideal to which, outwardly at least, more and more people aspired. Babbitt is one of the most vividly drawn and fully lifelike characters I have seen in the hundreds or thousands of books I have read; he not only seems real in himself but the very image of many people I have known. It may be very hard to like him; he is vain, ignorant, narrow-minded, shallow, hypocritical, temperamental, and many other unsavory things. That said, it is almost impossible to hate him; he is truly kind to his friend Paul and has occasional insight as well as admirable if thwarted ambition. Despicable as his thoughts and actions sometimes are, we cannot shake the feeling that he is decent at heart. An early reviewer made the all-important point that few will see themselves in Babbitt, but all will see people they know - probably many. He is the apotheosis of an important American type, perhaps the era's dominant one and still very prominent. More fundamentally, he is essentially human; for all his faults, any honest person will feel with and for him, because his failings and many of his strivings are central to the twentieth/twenty-first century human condition. Nearly everyone in current Western society can sympathize greatly with his doubts and struggles. Babbitt is at times nothing less than loathsome and often risible, yet it is hard to laugh at him, much less anything harsher; he is really more pitiable than anything.

This gets to the book's more important American dream critique. Babbitt is ostensibly successful in a way most Americans would envy yet plagued by uncertainty. He has gone about life unthinkingly for years but is suddenly haunted by dissatisfaction and a dreadful feeling of hollowness. Lewis was ahead of his time in depicting this malaise, which was not generally admitted for decades. He exposes American society as not only superficial but largely artificial, dominated by crass, anti-intellectual commercialism and unthinking conservatism. The novel rigorously condemns capitalism at its worst, vibrantly showing how it dehumanizes and saps culture. Much of this is done via brilliant speech evocation; Lewis was one of the first to use contemporary American speech fictionally, and Babbitt is perhaps its height. H. L. Mencken, author of The American Language, rightly praised it. Lewis had a great ear for slang and uses it with aplomb; one of his key insights is just how thoroughly commercialism had invaded speech. He also invented slang terms, several of which entered popular use, as did "Babbitt" and "Babbitry." This is such an essential part of the work that a glossary was necessary in European editions, and the book did much to make Europeans aware of American slang.

Babbitt also searchingly dramatizes a range of other related and important issues, including masculinity, femininity and feminism (a core Main Street theme), religion (the focus of Lewis' later Elmer Gantry), race, and class. It is often satirical but sometimes ponderously thought-provoking and occasionally tragic. Lewis is typically called a satirist, but this sells him rather short; his range is significantly wider, but even more important is his strong artistic skill. Anyone who likes Main will like this, though the latter's good humor profusion is largely missing, but Lewis' artistry had clearly improved. The episodic plotting that many criticize him for is mostly gone; Babbitt initially seems episodic, but a closer look reveals a very deliberate progression. This is all the more remarkable in that hardly anything really important seems to happen; the book begins with a near hour-to-hour account of Babbitt's everyday life and continues focusing on apparent minutia. However, these small events are more meaningful in retrospect and form an important whole. The primary improvement over Main is that the ending is not arbitrary but extremely deliberate and indeed, given the writing's steady march, all but inevitable in the best artistic sense. It is also unusually hopeful for Lewis, suggesting that, however savage his critiques, he believed things might change for the better.

This sadly has not occurred; Babbittry has grown ever more pervasive. The novel was written at an important time in American history - between World War I and the economic boom preceding the Great Depression. All this shows up; WWI is hardly mentioned openly but looms like a ghastly demon, fueling dissatisfaction and insecurity. Lewis memorably dramatizes the poor economy's effects:labor unrest, growing radicalism, emboldened reactionaries, etc. The Jazz Age decadence famously chronicled by contemporaries like Fitzgerald and Hemingway is also on display. It was a dark period, and Lewis chronicles brilliantly; his realism and attention to detail ensure that one can learn more about the era here than in any history book. We not only see what daily lives were like but absorb much about a wide variety of subjects:politics, speech, gender roles, sexuality, fashion, music, cinema, economics, and practically everything else. Perhaps most revealing is a candid picture of Prohibition era drinking. The book answered several questions I had always had and taught me much.

The fact that Babbitt so completely embodies its era unsurprisingly led to a decline in its and Lewis' reputation when the era became a dim memory. However, those who wrote him and it off were unrealistically optimistic. The realization that later prosperity was mostly illusory and the continuing existence of nearly everything the book criticizes make it seem newly relevant. It may indeed be more relevant than ever, but the unfortunate truth is that it has always been relevant. The novel is certainly a timepiece in many ways, giving it great historical value, but several core themes - not least its conformity send up - are eternal, and its depiction of existential unease is central to the present human condition. We were unwise to write Babbitt off and must not repeat the mistake; it has much to teach us and is also highly entertaining with much to provoke thought and emotion - an essential early twentieth century American novel.

Sinclair Lewis' greatest novel
Although this book was written in the 1920's,it remains timeless.
George Babbitt is a middle class, self-satisfied,self-inflating
business man who finds that his life is missing something he cannot identify and he is not happy. He has every material item he wants and he delights in them but he drifted into his career and marriage because he is basically weak and he finds no real enthusiasm with both. He is not ethical in his business but he does not face up to this. He tries to go back to nature by camping and hiking and this does not lessen his dissatisfaction. Then a crisis involving his best friend sends him into a way of thinking which is different from that of the leaders of the town and more radical.He also embarks on an affair with a woman, although he begins to realize she is very shallow. His whole way of life is at risk. However, a sudden illness of his wife brings him back and he soon resumes his former way of life and regains his status in the town. The book can be read as a look into the personality of that type of man or as an examination of the ways,ethics and morals of that type of society that can still exist to-day.
... Read more

Product Description
Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free.This is an OCR edition with typos.Excerpt from book:"'CHMoNo, CALifCHAPTER III A YOUNG MAN IN A RAINCOAT "TTTUH! Such an auto! Look, it break my har- L J. ness a'ready! Two dollar that cost you to mend it. De auto iss too heavy! " stormed Zolzac." All right! All right! Only for heaven's sake— go get another harness! " Claire shrieked." Fife-fifty dot will be, in all." Zolzac grinned.Claire was standing in front of him. She was thinking of other drivers, poor people, in old cars, who had been at the mercy of this golden-hearted one. She stared past him, in the direction from which she had come. Another motor was in sight.It was a tin beetle of a car; that agile, cheerful, rut- jumping model known as a "bug"; with a home- tacked, home-painted tin cowl and tail covering the stripped chassis of a little cheap Teal car. The lone driver wore an old black raincoat with an atrocious corduroy collar, and a new plaid cap in the Harry Lauder tartan. The bug skipped through mud where the Boltwoods' Gomez had slogged and rolled. Its pilot drove up behind her car, and leaped out. He trotted forward to Claire and Zolzac. His eyes were twenty-seven or eight, but his pink cheeks were twenty,nand when he smiled—shyly, radiantly—he was no age at all, but eternal boy. Claire had a blurred impression that she had seen him before, some place along the road." Stuck ?" he inquired, not very intelligently. " How much is Adolph charging you ? "" He wants three-fifty, and his harness broke, and he wants two dollars ""Oh! So he's still working that old gag! I've heard all about Adolph. He keeps that harness for pulling out cars, and it always busts. The last time, though, he only charged six bits to get it mended. Now let me reason with him."The young man turned with vicious quickness, and for the first time Cla... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

A Good Read
I read a 1993 reprint paperback that is more value for moneythan the edition being reviewed here.
No typos, in fact, it seemed to be a reprint of the original text.
This is one of the very first "road"novels, preceding Kerouac and many followers by quite a few decades.
Obviously a minor work, but very entertaining as the other reviewers have confirmed.
Good to see that the pre-Main Street books can still be read.

text file in a bound book

This refers to the GENERAL BOOKS edition.This is completely unedited.Words are missing spaces between them in some instances, numeric codes show up in the middle of sentences and "|" vertical lines are everywhere in the text.A twelve dollar book should be edited.There are a number of other problems, but they all result from what is obviously a text file printed as-is.

unpaved roads, flat tires and chasing that dream
Sinclair Lewis's FRESH AIR, published in 1919, is sheer, chuckling delight. It offers no great insights into psyches or interpersonal relations. Read it rather as a straightforward magazine serial pot boiler romance of frontier boy and car mechanic (Milt Daggett) pursuing a sentimental girl (Claire Boltwood) worth an impressive $5,000 around 1916. The girl, a high living Brooklynite, is driving her ailing workaholic father in a heavy Gomez-Dep roadster long day after weary day acrossnorthern plains and mountains towards a vacation with cousins in Seattle. She wonders whether she can ultimately avoid marrying Jeff Saxton, a notably older beau back in sophisticated New York.

Milt complicates things by falling in love with Claire after pulling her car out of a Minnesota mud hole created by a German hick to extort money from stranded motorists. Milt almost instantly decides to drive in his modest Teal "tin beetle" or "bug" with or near Claire and her father all the way to Seattle. And so it goes, with Claire wondering if she can (or should) civilize the manly Milt up to the level of suave and prosperous Jeff or whether that is too, too patronizing. Should she, alternatively, simply sweep off to Alaska with Milt -- heeding the call of the wild? Were Jane and Tarzan in the back of Sinclair Lewis's mind? For Edgar Rice Burroughs had created them only seven years earlier in 1912. No, the story takes another twist. Read the book and discover what this novel is said to be"prelude and curtain raiser" to.

FRESH AIR can also be read just for its sweaty heft as a part of midwestern and western America not long before the nation declared war on the Kaiser. On the drive through Minnesota, North Dakota, etc. to Washington state, roads are rarely paved. Gravel is luxury. Dust is daily. Mud is just around the bend. Tires are thin and frequently burst or are punctured. Steep slopes demand drivers with braking and gear shifting skills. And don't forget low spots covered by running water.

In every town where the Boltwoods overnight, they routinely drive their Gomez-Dep (a make apparently invented by Sinclair Lewis)into a sure-to-be-there full service garage for the night. These and other cross country garages often display a sign "Free Air," which must have been a reassuring come-on in the early days of cross-continental motoring.

The author, just one year before his first masterpiece, MAIN STREET, convincingly presents his personally experienced North American driving world from an expert mechanic's point of view: an automobile-crazed country with its starters, carburetors, rumble seats, dubiously effective head lamps, oil leaks, hitchhikers, fleabag hotels, country stores, a haunted house and country people who speak German and at first seem gruff but then are seen by sophisticated Easterner Claire Boltwood to have hearts of gold. As does her new suitor, Milt Daggett. It is an all-American world where even auto mechanics are romantic and knightly.

Boys and girls should read FRESH AIR a year or so before they tackle TOM SAWYER and HUCKLEBERRY FINN. One leads to the others.

-OOO-

Why couldn't all his books have been like this?
Apparently Lewis didn't become disillusioned and embittered until after 1919, when this absolutely delightful book was published. We have an original copy that my mom got from a library sale or something. She lovedit, I loved it, which is no suprise because I am a sucker for sweet oldnovels, but the most ringing endorsement it that my impossible-to-pleasedad loved it.In fact, he was the one who made me read it.

There reallyisn't a lot of substance to this book - it's mostly fluff. (There's somesocial commentary in the later parts of the book, when they're in Seattle,but I try to ignore it.) But it's grade-A, high-quality fluff we're talkingabout here.Claire Boltwood's transformation from a Brooklyn snob to areal woman is highly believable, and Milt Daggett is one of the sweetest,most wholesome men ever created. Set against the well-painted backdrop ofthe American West, the story shifts from amusing to heartwarming tobittersweet and back again flawlessly.

Just a good, simple love-story,unique and well-written. I would recommend this book to anyone just lookingfor a good read.

Free Air Review
I really enjoyed this book immensely and agree with the previous reviewer.It gives a descriptive account of the trials and tribulations of traveling westward in a car during the early 1900's.

Reads as a social/class commentary, a Zane Gray western, with some romance added.

Corny in some ways, however, I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it to other Sinclair Lewis fans. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (10)

...the more they stay the same.
Finally got around to reading Main Street, which I bought years ago, after enjoying Babbitt and Arrowsmith.I loved this book on two levels:

First, Lewis's portrayal of turn of the century day to day life is fascinating.This was a time when autos were taking over carriages, TV was not around yet, indoor plumbing was not a given.It really is amazing how much things have changed.

Which brings me to the second level:It was amusing to read a long-dead author's description of the treatment of anyone who dares to challenge the status quo.Carol and her friends are accused of being socialists and of being un-American because they want everyone to have the opportunity to succeed. Some things really haven't changed at all!

It was also interesting to read an account of the dawn of the women's movement.As far as I can tell, Lewis does a pretty good job of writing from an early 20th century woman's perspective.His main characters have depth, although, as I read somewhere else, too, his minor characters - not so much.

A good "classic".
Every now and then I feel that I should read a "classic". Often, after finishing one, I say "What?". A few, I've given up 1/4 into it. This one was very good, although a person who like to read "Man saves world every 20 pages" books will find this boring. It's "everyday life", much of it as true today as it was in 1920.

Critical 1920 look at Small-Town Conservatism
Sinclair Lewis burst onto the scene in 1920 with this searing novel about small-town USA.The story's main character is Carol Milford, an independent, progressive-minded young lady from the big city of St. Paul, Minnesota. Carol moves to small-town Gopher Prairie (Minnesota) when she marries Dr. Will Kenniccott, who is from the town.Carol is striving and somewhat rebellious, but her desires to liven up the place are stifled by the town's values of puritanism, conservativism and conformity.Within the town there is also ego, power, greed, and the prevailing view that those who are not good Main Street Republicans are suspect - if not bolshevik/anarchists. It helps readers to understand that this book arrived before radio, television or Walmart, when Main Street was truly the center of action in many small towns.In time, Carol comes to accept the stifling conservatism of Gopher Prarie (modeled after Lewis' home town of Sauk Center) even if she hardly embraces it.

Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951) soon followed Main Street with other socially critical novels including Babbitt, Arrowsmith, and Elmer Gantry.This book was published the year that Prohibition began and voters overwhelmingly chose Republican Warren Harding as President - Harding epitomizing staid, protestant conservatism (although privately he was a skirt chaser).Future journalist William L Shirer visited Sauk Center in 1921 and noted that many there felt insulted by this book.Quite understandable.Sinclair's portrayal of Main Street values is hardly flattering.

Read the Great Books!
This is one of my favorite books.Lewis is one of those authors who can be read and re-read, offering a wealth of new insights each time.The fact that the book was published in 1920 adds to it's impact by unconsciously reminding the reader of how little things change.

Loved it
I just finished reading Main Street. It is as relevant today as it was when it was written (in 1920?). I only regret that it's taken me this long to discover Sinclair Lewis. I did enjoy Babbit many years ago, but hadn't read anything else by Lewis. Now I want to devour all his works. ... Read more

Product Description
A neglected tour de force by the first American to win the Nobel Prize in literature, Kingsblood Royal is a stirring and wickedly funny portrait of a man who resigns from the white race. When Neil Kingsblood a typical middle-American banker with a comfortable life makes the shocking discovery that he has African-American blood, the odyssey that ensues creates an unforgettable portrayal of two Americas, one black, one white.

As timely as when it was first published in 1947, one need only open today's newspaper to see the same issues passionately being discussed between blacks and whites that we find in Kingsblood Royal, says Charles Johnson. Perhaps only now can we fully appreciate Sinclair Lewis's astonishing achievement.
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Customer Reviews (12)

Fire and razor
Sinclair Lewis, in razor-sharp dialogue and narrative, poured the fire of his wrath against bigotry into Kingsblood Royal. Despite the passage of decades, it is more than just a period piece. It is a raging indictment of racism and prejudice. Lewis hooks the reader from the start with grimly humorous satire -- and becomes ever more scathing. It is a disturbing book, even after all this time.

A Must for Every Highschooler or Older
This book is unfortunately still so topical today. Whether its fear and prejudice against Blacks, Hispanics, or Gays this book has a great moral lesson. It views these entrenched ideas from enough of a distance to show their absurdity. Wonderfully enlightening.

A Study of Prejudice
This is the fifth book of Sinclair Lewis's that I have read.Like the previous two I completed; "Main Street" and "Elmer Gantry", "Kingsblood Royal" seems dated but still conveys a very timeless message.This novel is about a man of prominance in a Northern Minnesota city (I figured it to be a composite of Bemidji and Grand Rapids) who suddenly finds out he is descended from a Negro.He goes through a transformation of perspective on racial issues.In time, he declares himself publicly to be a "Negro".The effects of this declaration demonstrate the prejudices and ignorances (pardon the redundancy) of the US in the immediate post-WWII years.

Sinclair Lewis does a compelling job of ferreting out the evils of racial prejudices by showing how one previously accepted man of importance descends to the level of a societal pariah.Close friends turn away, well-meaning people succumb to pressure and cease their assistance, family members disavow him.At the same time, we become familiar with the Black residents of Grand Republic who share their trials and tribulations.I was impressed by how well Lewis covered his subject from so many angles.In doing so, he challenges the reader to examine where he or she would find themselves among the varied characters in "Kingsblood Royal"

My complaint about the book is somewhat qualified.Mr. Kingsblood is 1/32 Negro yet he grabs onto that as his racial identity after living his life unaware of it.I'm 1/32 Irish but I don't consider myself to therefore be Irish.It's one thing to discover your long lost father; it's quite another to discover your long lost great great great grandfather.I suspect that this was what Lewis felt he needed to do to make the story otherwise believable and to point out, as well, how the stereotypes of that period would identify such a small percentage as making no difference in definition.I'll grant him that privilege given that he wrote such an excellent book.

Sinclair Lewis almost laughs American racism into impotence
KINGSBLOOD ROYAL is a 1947 novel rich in sometimes unintended, sometimes avoidable consequences as a basically dull, average American Neil Kingslbood plods back into American business humdrum. He had been wounded in 1943 as a Captain in the US Army. He "piously" (after the fashion of the Roman hero Aeneas) promises his father to look into a family legend (communicated surprisinglylate to the hero) that the Kingsbloods are descendants of English royalty. Nothing is clear one way on the other on the paternal side of genealogy. But interviews with his father's mother and then with a Minnesota historian reveal first that Neil's great, great, great maternal grandfather, the Canadian voyageur Xavier Pic, had a Chippewa wife. And shortly thereafter there is convincing documentary evidence that Pic himself was 100% black, having been born on the isle of Martinique around 1750.

That makes the startled Neil Kingsblood both 1/32 black as well as heavily Native American. What to do about it? There had been and was still no suspicion among any family members or friends and business colleagues that the Kingsbloods were (by certain American, mainly Southern, standards) legally black. No one need therefore ever find out. And it was pretty clear that if the word got out, the results would not be pretty.

Yet Neil, a man not otherwise noted for boldness or delicate conscience, decides to "come out," even after being advised not to by newfound black friends in the city of Grand Republic, Minnesota. The results are even more awful than a reader nearly 60 years after the fictional events might imagine. Neil loses job after job. His wife is socially ostracized. Eventually even his young daughter is snubbed as well. Family members of his generation beg him to keep quiet. When he does not, a marriage does not take place. A divorce occurs. Neil is blamed for his father's sudden death. Bloody mindedness spreads.

At the end of the novel, the hero, his family and some armed black friends fire on an angry mob massing at the Kingsblood home after community leaders fail to persuade them to move out of the semi-prestigious all-white neighborhood. The police move in to arrest Neil and others but exempt Neil's wife Vestal, daughter of a community leader. She however remains true to Neil to the end. She assures her arrest by hitting a policeman over the head with a pistol.

The story may sound far-fetched. But remember 1925 when black Doctor Ossian Sweet moved into an angry previously all white neighborhood on the East Side of Detroit. Shots from inside Sweet's house killed a demonstrator outside. Defended by Clarence Darrow, Sweet was acquitted. (No one was killed in KINGSBLOOD ROYAL). But racial violence rose through the next twenty years in Detroit.

Anti-black racism was still strong in 1947 when KINGSBLOOD ROYAL hit the streets. In some small way Sinclair Lewis may have almost succeeded in laughing American racial idiocy away.

Lewis was a genius to have written this book in 1947!
I began to read the book not knowing what the subject matter was. As it unfolded, I became fascinated with the story and the time in which it was written. The main character is in fact noble in character & his wife recognizes it by trying to emulatehim. I look forward to reading many more of Lewis' novels. ... Read more

Product Description
Possibly the best student of hypocrisy since Voltaire

This portrait of a golden-tongued evangelist-who lives a life of hypocrisy, sensuality, and self-indulgence-is also the chronicle of a reign of vulgarity, which but for Lewis would have left no record of itself. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (40)

A HYPOCRITICAL PREACHER

Elmer Gantry starts off brilliantly, worthy of 6 stars then goes down hill from there.

Sinclair Lewis tells of the bad side of the church back in the 20th century through Elmer Gantry's ministry.

I don't mind anything being made fun of, if it can be told interestingly.

This story is not interesting.I struggled to finish but with the high ratings I was curious to find out why it rated so highly so I had to finish it. I do not recommend this book, save your money.

First Sinclair Lewis read = Wow!
Really awesome read.A nice trip through late 1800's, early 1900's in US history with this fiction novel.Elmer Gantry is a self-centered, arrogant and obnoxious character who never really reconciles his atheistic views with his religious perspective.Lewis paints a Gantry who is really a self-centered, money seeking, womanizer who manages to make a good living while fooling most of those around him to his real intentions.Elmer struggles with himself and his first roommate Jim Lefferts.Lefferts is the devil on Gantry's left shoulder while Gantry is the saint sitting on Gantry's right shoulder. If Elmer Gantry were alive today he'd be a Jimmy Swaggart or Jim Baker.Elmer spends the entire book convincing himself of the righteousness of his religious beliefs so he can go on preaching.

Satirical Masterpiece
Elmer Gantry is the last of what have come to be Sinclair Lewis' four classic novels and is on par with the prior three:Main Street, Babbitt, and Arrowsmith. Fans of those will certainly like it, and it is a great place for neophytes to start.

Lewis uses his signature documentary-style to bring alive yet another slice of Americana - Protestant fundamentalism, which was enjoying one of its periodic revivals as he was writing shortly before the Great Depression. Lewis did a vast amount of field research, and it shows; he brings a fictional world alive as only he can by focusing on just the right details and drawing them vividly. So well-executed was his technique, and so great his popularity, that many early readers said Lewis' fictional America was at least as real to them as most of the actual country outside their area. This is still true to a great degree; his portrayal is so painstakingly detailed that the descriptive sections often seem more like a history lesson than a novel. Such a statement is apt to scare many but is true in the best possible way; the book is never even remotely close to boring. It indeed pulls us in almost immediately, and our interest stays at an apex throughout most of the book; this was 1927's bestselling novel, and it is easy to see why. Lewis is the rare author who can write long expositions but make them fit the story, seeming to arise naturally rather than overwhelming it. Thus, though supremely entertaining, Elmer is an invaluable historical document for anyone interested in fundamentalism or the era.

However, most will still be drawn to what first made the book a sensation - its stunningly realistic and unrelentingly satiric fundamentalism expose. Lewis was the greatest American satirist since Mark Twain, and this may well be his most biting portrayal, which truly says much. He shows the hypocrisy, lies, and deceit at fundamentalism's heart, condemning it as a mass of self-indulgence. So hollow does he show it to be that it is incredible anyone ever followed it, and he certainly gives more than enough reasons for the curious to stay distant. He does so to a large extent by using traditional satirical methods to reduce religion to ridicule in the best tradition of Voltaire, Twain, and others. Like them, he makes us laugh almost in self-defense; the book indeed has many laughs, though the material could just as easily anger or sadden if presented differently, which is great satire's mark. However, he also criticizes religion on intellectual, philosophical, ethical, and historical grounds in ways that run somewhat deeper; this is again influenced by classic satirists but also takes into account philosophers' and scientists' non-literary work. Added to all this is his own absolute realism, which creates a portrait of his target so lifelike that it is a walking self-parody - so ridiculous that further attacks would be not only superfluous but near-cruel.

The novel predictably caused a firestorm of controversy; it was denounced in pulpits across the country and by traveling evangelists - doubtless because many recognized its truth and some suspected (or knew) they were direct inspiration - as well as numerous self-righteous ordinary people. Denounced as Satanic, immoral, and maliciously false, Lewis was threatened with jail and even death. All this of course only proved his point - and greatly increased sales. He was after all armed with a mass of facts, and anyone who thought the story hyperbolic had only to compare Jesus' message with reactions. This aspect is significantly less striking in today's far more secular era, though fundamentalism's continued existence ensures that the book can still strike a nerve; it remains unpopular with evangelicals and a favorite of religious opponents. However, it will remain relevant even if fundamentalism - nay, Christianity, or even religion altogether - is finally obliterated as a warning against human folly, gullibility, ignorance, and pure stupidity. Even aside from the religious angle, it is valuable as an unsparing document of hypocrisy and hedonism; human nature shows no sign of lessening in these regards, and the elemental critique of these unenviable and often fatal qualities transcends its immediate subject and will probably always be needed.

It is especially worthwhile in this regard because, unlike many satirists, Lewis takes care to not be overly didactic; the story may be an excuse for satire, but one would never know from reading. He makes sure to remain entertaining, which gains a larger audience and proves his points far more effectively. This is not to say he always succeeds; occasionally, as in Chapter XXVIII especially, he seems to forget he is writing a novel and lapses into the very sort of preaching he announces - though of course from the other side. Some will justify or at least extenuate this on the grounds that Christianity has had a near-unbroken monopoly on preaching in the Western world for a millennium and that the non-religious can surely be allowed a rant here and there. However, this is supposed to be a novel, and lack of dramatization is a conventional literary fault, however much one agrees with what is said. Such moments, though, are remarkably rare, which make the reading quick and engrossing.

Characterization is also a large part of what makes the book so readable and memorable. This was always one of Lewis' strong suits for the same reason that his settings seem so lifelike but is particularly notable here in that the characters are so interesting even though there is hardly a conventionally likable one. A few may arouse pity, but most bring contempt and scorn. The chief example is of course the title character, who may be Lewis' greatest creation - or would be if he were not so similar to several actual people. One of literature's most thoroughly loathsome personages, Gantry is despicable in almost every conceivable way:ignorant yet vain, hapless yet lucky, hypocritical yet self-righteous, repressive yet hedonistic - in short, the extreme example of what realists find so distasteful about fundamentalist preachers. Disgusting as he is, we cannot help being fascinated, if only to find what accomplishment he will stumble on next or whose life he will now ruin without conscience for his own gain. The novel focuses mostly on him, and the narration is often filtered through his perspective, giving tremendous insight into the mind of an American con man. It is thus sort of a reverse bildungsroman; Gantry makes a stunning rise from rural obscurity to national fame without really learning anything or changing fundamentally. That he does so without being exposed - nay, that he does so at all with nothing but good looks, a loud voice, and bold confidence - is a further testament to human naiveté, ignorance, and stupidity.

Many other characters are also strong, especially traveling female evangelist Sharon Falconer, who almost steals the proverbial show. She may be Lewis' most complex character and is surely his most fascinating; her depiction is significantly more nuanced than Gantry's, and we are far from sure if we can dismiss her as a charlatan like him, somewhat extenuate her as insane, or begrudgingly exalt her as an eccentric genius. Lewis himself perhaps did not know, but her inclusion is notable for showing that his fundamentalist dramatization is much less one-sided than is often claimed. Other characters mostly range from bad to worse to sickeningly evil, showing various aspects of humanity's rather large dark side. No one is championed, but a few ambivalent portraits add variety and show that Lewis held out a little hope for humanity if narrow-mindedness and mental slavery can ever be overcome.

Subject matter aside, Lewis' style is not for everyone; he has indeed been taken to task since his death so fully and often that his status has dropped significantly. In the 1920s he was at American literature's forefront, and he retained living legend status until his 1951 death though his popularity had long sagged. Now he is read seemingly ever less often, and his reputation as a major writer seems in danger of disappearing, though his four classics still have relative popularity and some critics and writers continue to champion his artistry. This is due almost entirely to realism dropping out of vogue. Those who champion more recent genres will have little patience for his episodic plots, arbitrary endings, linear narratives, traditional narration, and near absence of tropes. His writing in a way seems dated and not just because it focuses so specifically on a distinct era. It is easy for even his biggest admirers to see his work as period pieces, but this sells him rather short. Lewis is a master satirist, an insightful social critic, a keen observer of manners, and a historical writer in the best sense; his realism is almost unparalleled, and his characterization is superb. Anyone who values such things can only admire him, and Elmer is an exemplary work. Whatever our view of its subject or style, it is a consummate work of its kind and great enough to transcend any ostensible limitations. It is a true American classic and, though thankfully less sociopolitically relevant than when new, is destined to remain a much-needed dash of cold water as long as people continue to fall for outwardly appealing but inwardly empty shysters like Gantry and all he represents.

Elmer Gantry
Good book...ordered for a book club and selected not by us.E. Gantry was read in high school for an English lit. class so it was an old friend reviewed.Fairly fas read.

Elmer Gantry
Elmer Gantry was written in the 1920s, yet it is a a fantastic modern portrayal of how religion is fleecing the flock today. The characters really do come alive.
Lewis is able to portray Gantry with self important arrogance. Using and controling people around him. This is truly one of the great classics ... Read more

Product Description
Originally published in 1919.This volume from the Cornell University Library's print collections was scanned on an APT BookScan and converted to JPG 2000 format by Kirtas Technologies.All titles scanned cover to cover and pages may include marks notations and other marginalia present in the original volume. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A How-To Theater Novel For Dummies
Have you read any of the "how to" series called " xxxx for Dummies?" Franchising for Dummies. Computers for Dummies. Spread Sheets for Dummies. This sort of title exists by the hundreds.

Some of Sinclair Lewis's novels have a distinct "how to" flavor. THE JOB (1917) has lots of tips for young women who want to succeed in business.MANTRAP (1926) is full of hands-on details about canoeing, portaging and trekking around Canada north of the 53rd parallel.WORK OF ART (1934) might be subtitled "Hotel Management for Dummies." Even IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE (1935) lays out the "how to" mechanics of a Fascist takeover of these United States. Sinclair Lewis had in one way or another immersed himself in these topics for a time, usually not many months before he wrote about them. Prior to BETHEL MERRIDAY he had written plays, acted in plays and would also direct them.

Not all of Lewis's novels by any means are of this "how to" ilk. But 1940's BETHEL MERRIDAY most certainly is. It might be styled "All About the Stage for Dummies." The heroine, Bethel Merriday, was born June 1, 1916. On her sixth birthday her mother caught her imitating the slouching, slow walk of an old woman and rebuked her for generally showing off, speaking up in Church and in this case for "copying" people. Bethel said, "Oh! I'm not copying her. I'm trying to be her. I can be a lot of different people." Her mother's comment: "It all sounds like maybe you're going to be an actress." (Ch. 1)

At home in Sladesbury, Connecticut, Bethel learned something of acting from motion pictures. Without ever having seen professional actors in the flesh, she grew ever more sure that she would be an actress and she shared this vision with her skeptical young friends. And she would bea professional stage actress, not an amateur. "I'm not going to play at playing. No! It isn't good enough!" (Ch. 1) Finally, in the summer of 1931 a touring troupe came to Sladesbury. 15-year old Bethel rapturously took in their performances, waited for actors and actresses at the stage door and even followed them to a drugstore where they had a bite. She drank in their shop talk. She spoke to a young actress. An older actor told Bethel that if she wanted to become an actress, she must train, play parts at every opportunity and get lucky (Ch. 1)

Bethel went on to act in college and to be noticed in her senior year somewhat negatively by two professional directors. Her father paid for her to apprentice in summer stock on the Connecticut shore in the summer of 1938. In the autumn of that year connections which she made in summer stock helped her quickly but very luckily become part of a brand new touring troupe which would do ROMEO AND JULIET in modern dress. Bethel understudied Juliet and played her once, when the $1,000/week English actress took to drink. Other speaking parts were small. But Bethel was interested in all aspects of theater: musicians, lighting and especially scenery design. She worked very hard and she learned quickly that on stage you "Never do anything unless you understand why." (Ch. 11)

Almost inevitably, the road show lost money and failed. This left 23 year old Bethel with time to choose among several men who offered her marriage, including her next door neighbor from home and two actors who had played Romeo and Mercutio on the road. She chose the talented"Mercutio" and they were married Saturday January 21, in Pike City, Kansas, population 7,000, end of the line for the theater tour. A few months later the newlyweds were acting together in New York for another company whose director had seen Bethel overact Nora in Ibsen's DOLL HOUSE in college only seven months earlier.

If you like novels about the theater, BETHEL MERRIDAY will call to mind Herman Wouk's 1955 MARJORIE MORNINGSTAR, without the latter's Angst. BETHEL MERRIDAY lacks the profundity of Goethe's 1796 WILHELM MEISTER. But all three books were written by men who knew and loved theater and spoke with authority. Sinclair Lewis's theater novel woos the senses with cramped dressing rooms and the smell of grease paint, the look and feel of increasingly shabby costumes as the tour grows old and conveys a sense of what makes actors and actresses do what they do, usually for very little money. And the stage has its personnnel dimension, too. Young Bethel is even pressed by an embarrassed producer to tell an aging ham that he must go.

Sinclair Lewis portrays theater as a partnership between actors and audience and argues that being a good audience is a skill to be learned. Language once used for religion is now applied to show business:to actors on stage "each with his prides and secrets and sins," (Ch. 12), to the audience as heathens to be "advanced toward salvation," to faith in the power of staged illusions to change the world, to devout study of a role, to that limbo where all young actors and bull fighters float, and finally to "the solid American Protestant belief in the glory and efficacy of human will power. If anyone wanted enough to do anything, he would unquestionably do it..." (Ch. 18). The faces of most Americans today have been "ironed out by spiritual massage" (Ch. 33). Not so the face of a great actor.

People who love theater will recognize one of their own in Sinclair Lewis.

-OOO- ... Read more

Product Description
In this sardonic portrait of the up-and-coming middle class during the prosperous 1920s, Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951) perfectly captures the sound, the feel, and the attitudes of the generation that created the cult of consumerism. With a sharp eye for detail and keen powers of observation, Lewis tracks successful realtor George Babbitt's daily struggles to rise to the top of his profession while maintaining his reputation as an upstanding family man.

On the surface, Babbitt appears to be the quintessential middle-class embodiment of conservative values and enthusiasm for the well-to-do lifestyle of the small entrepreneur. But beneath the complacent facade, he also experiences a rising, nameless discontent. These feelings eventually lead Babbitt into risky escapades that threaten his family and his standing in the community.

Though published eighty years ago, this acerbic depiction of majority Americans, obsessed with success, material comfort, and mid-life doubt, still rings true. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (63)

My favorite book
This is one of those books i can read over and over again. It's in depth character descriptions and satirical analysis are charming, enlightening, and genius. He manages to be both affectionate and wildly cruel toward his characters. This book made me laugh and laugh and laugh and cry.

Tai's QuickViews: Five Stars))
Babbitt was delightful, profound. Mighty is the pull of conformity. I love the climax when he returns to the "Matrix" of Zenith. He welcomes his safety net knowing and having failed to amount to anything in the new "greener grass". Babbitt, the man with the mid life crisis, promises he'll do what he wants to do- after he retires. For now, he'll dole out sage advise to his son; vicariously hoping his words are put to a use outside his own reach.

When the rich are poor
Sinclair Lewis, the son of a Minnesota doctor, is known primarily for his novels that examined American ways of life during the 1920s.While commercially successful, his books also reformed American letters at a time when sociology and economics were transforming across the nation.Lewis, America's first winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1930, enflamed his reading public with such novels as 'Main Street,' 'Babbitt,' 'Arrowsmith,' and 'Elmer Gantry' during an era of breakneck prosperity and social recklessness.

America can be a very ironic place and Sinclair Lewis's triumphs of the 1920s are a shining example.Lewis's novels sold hundreds of thousands of copies, yet he was continuously smeared by the literary establishment and those outside of it.Lewis was judged by many critics as out of touch with the prevailing American spirit.He felt this disfavor in 1921, when the Columbia University Board of Trustees overturned 'Main Street' in favor of Edith Wharton's 'The Age of Innocence' for the Pulitzer Prize.In a provocative move five years later, Lewis refused his Pulitzer for 'Arrowsmith,' noting that American authors were forced to be 'safe, polite, obedient, and sterile.' After the wide publication of 'Elmer Gantry' in 1927, he received death threats and condemnation from religious leaders.

The atmosphere presented in 'Babbitt' is anything but safe or polite; rather, it is smug, suffocating, and duplicitous.When 'Babbitt' first appeared in 1922, the United States was undergoing vast and seemingly effortless growth after the First World War.The sky was apparently the limit for American expansion, but Lewis, a social critic who seemed to inherit his father's medical precision, was able to cut through several layers of hubris and realize that all of it was a sham.'Babbitt' startled its first readers accordingly, receiving simultaneous praise and criticism while becoming a major success in both America and Europe.

'Babbitt' is a novel of 34 chapters with varying subdivisions, all centered upon George F. Babbitt, a real estate agent based in the Midwestern city of Zenith, which compares to Cincinnati, Minneapolis, and Omaha.Though Lewis does not specify the exact location of Zenith, it serves as a prototypical American city that is undergoing major economic developments.This prosperity, however, is not freely shared in Lewis's world; a brief member of the Socialist Party, he sensed a gross inequality between the upper and lower classes.And to make matters worse, the rich were (and still are) as equally miserable as the poor.

As Lewis biographer Mark Schorer adeptly points out, the ruling classes of 'Babbitt' are radically different from those in the American literary tradition of James, Dreiser, and Tarkington, who laid the country's economic power entirely in the hands of tycoons like Andrew Carnegie and John Jacob Astor.By the 1920s, American commerce was dominated by 'middlemen' who do not propel forward an industry, create a product, or offer anything of tangible value.These men, who include real estate dealers, attorneys, stock brokers, and bankers, have only cleverness and a gift for conversation as their selling points.

The middlemen may be turning vast profits at the lower classes' expense, but don't readily assume that they're so happy.In Lewis's America, those of higher social strata only exist for profit's sake.While driving a shiny car and living with a neat family in the suburbs, these nouveaux-riches live emotionally and intellectually crippled lives that are overshadowed by American conformism.Several institutions play a role in this castration of personality - Lewis delves into government, family structure, civic organizations such as the Rotarians and Elks, religion, and America's one-shoe-fits-all system of education.

'Babbitt' is not so much a novel as a series of vignettes.It is a trail of episodes placing Babbitt and his acquaintances in everyday dilemmas that reflect America at large.Any semblance of plot is not noticeable until chapter 21, after dear friend and inspiration Paul Riesling shoots his wife and finds himself in prison.A novel without clear plotlines would fail miserably if written by an author of lesser talent than Sinclair Lewis.But Lewis accomplishes a major feat by injecting enough significance into the chapters for each one to stand on its own.The story is presented through a witty, third-person narrative and is often pathetically funny, unlike earlier social novels.

Lewis was interested in socialism but actually lived as a bourgeois through the success of his writing.In 'Babbitt,' Lewis hints - rather skeptically - at workers' movements as a possible solution to the American malaise.He sympathizes with the working classes to an extent, but his middle-class upbringing still causes him to portray those of lower social strata as ignorant and uncouth.This inner conflict feels similar to that of W. H. Auden, who dabbled with Marxism during the 1930s but was too much of a middle-classman to remain for long.Lewis, in fact, doesn't seem to possess much hope for America's future at all.The novel concludes with a possibility of Babbitt's college son Ted overcoming the constraints of older generations, but this is a large question mark.In fact, America may be so bogged down in its conformity and anti-intellectualism that to reform American thought means to destroy its very existence.

The dilemmas seen by Lewis in the 1920s continue today and seem far worse after eight decades.With such factors as the globalization of commerce, the advancement of women and minorities in the workplace, the further polarization of urban and rural dwellers, and the complete amorality of those in power, the situation is a hundred times more complicated and not an inch closer to being solved.Now the question needs to be asked if it's worth trying to solve America's problems at all or if we should just ride out the steep decline.

For those who can stomach these issues (even after my depressing review), 'Babbitt' is a unique experience in American novels.'Babbitt' has been republished several times, including as a small paperback by Signet Classic (451-CE2366), which hit shelves in 1991.The widely-circulated Signet edition is 334 pages long, including a brief afterword by Mark Schorer; a one-page bibliography follows the main text.Signet designed a bright cover for the edition and the novel itself is presented in clear type.The type, however, is rather small and crammed onto the pages. Signet editions have been popular amongst students, but older readers may want to find a larger-sized version.No matter its size, 'Babbitt' is a ground-breaking novel that fits the higher ranks of American literature.

The Naked Capitalist
Having recently read Lewis' Main Street, I was interested in more from the author.Babbitt tells the story of George F. Babbitt, a successful realtor in the booming Midwest city of Zenith in the early 1920s.He leads a perfectly mundane life as a business partner with his father-in-law and has all the outward indications of a happy and successful businessman.But inside, he has a vague uneasiness and discontent.Vacations to Maine (he and his friend Paul go a week earlier than their families), winning public acclaim for his speaking prowess at a convention and around town, and his efforts at hometown boosterism all leave him dissatisfied and somewhat empty.His wife and family seem to aggravate him most of all.

I was unable to finish this story, and finally gave up after reading about 2/3rds of it.Unlike Main Street, Babbitt has no really sympathetic characters.In fact, while the supporting characters are slightly more well-developed than those in Main Street, they still come off as unimportant cardboard figures.Babbitt believes he is honest and intelligent, although the book makes a point of satirizing his (and everyone else's) lack of both, and I felt no interest in him.Instead we are treated to an unending stream of his complaining and lengthy speeches extolling whatever virtues he feels expert in and I kept waiting for something to finally make me want to read this book.Alas, no such luck and I'm giving up for greener pastures.

While I can appreciate that the book is a satirical look at how pathetic and vapid the lives of many Americans were (and probably still are), there was just no cleverness to the story.His comparisons are blunt and obvious and lack any creativity, such as the dinner with an old friend who's now very wealthy followed immediately by his attending one at the home of another old friend who's never been successful in business, or his complaints of the children contrasted immediately with their complaints of him.I even tried consulting Cliff's Notes to see what I was missing, but found there wasn't much *to* miss.I listened to the audio book and the narrator (Wolfram Kandinsky) sounded too much like voices from certain old cartoons that I couldn't quite identify, and became very annoying.Recommended only for those with uncommon stamina in the face of unwavering tedium.

Stands the Test of Time
I first read "Babbitt" in my mid-thirties, after trying to slog through one of John Updike's "Rabbit" novels and giving up out of sheer boredom. I knew that "Rabbit" was vaguely patterned on "Babbitt," so I thought I'd give the original a try.

I loved it from the word go! Satirical, fun, biting, enjoyable, caustic, hilarious--everyone enjoys it for their own reasons. That a novel published in the 1920s can still fascinate readers of all stripes just shows how exceptional "Babbitt" is. The story flows smoothly and opens up gradually, punctuated by familiar details of everyday life that had me laughing out loud several times.

"Babbitt" is still fresh today because its subject is timeless. Middle-aged people go through mid-life crises--that's part of being human. And elementally that is what I liked about Babbitt himself and the novel: their humanity. Although Sinclair pokes fun at Babbitt, it is affectionate fun. Now on the far side of my mid-life crisis, I understand the fond humor of "Babbitt" much better than I did when I first read it. I will probably re-read it at regular intervals all my life, because every time I do, I see something I missed before.

"Babbitt" is a gem of a book, well worth the money, a real treat to read. The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is that I find the denoument to be somewhat forced. But that doesn't detract from the enjoyability of the book, and it gives you something to chew on until the next time you read it. I recommend this book very highly. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The Guilt of Sinclair Lewis: Not Sending More Often for Sweeney Fishberg
There may be people who read Shakespeare'sHENRY IV and HENRY V simply because they enjoy the minor figure of Sir John Falstaff. If so, there may also be a fewwho re-read Sinclair Lewis's two novels CASS TIMBERLANE (1945) and KINGSBLOOD ROYAL (1947) for their fleeting glimpses of an amiable lawyer, the even more minor Sweeney Fishberg.

The power structure of Grand Republic, Minnesota is made up of stuffy, inbred, well off, underachieving and very ordinary middle class men and women. They preen themselves and endlessly meow at most of their peers. Former Congressman and now Judge Cass Timberlane was made by that only-in-Midwest-America elite, though he challenges its values by enjoying goodbooks and playing a flute. But even for this whimsically deviant member of his caste, it is a stretch when the 41 year old divorced Cass is smitten by 24 year old out of town working girl Virginia (Jinny) Marshland. He pursues her, persuades her to marry him but then lets her slide into boredom with his friends, into untended diabetes and into an affair with another lawyer, his boyhood friend. Cass nobly takes Jinny back when the affair sputters and Jinny in the final paragraph triumphantly turns her attention to new storm windows for her bedroom (not the first Lewis heroine to do just that).

When young Jinny is first noticed by Judge Timberlane, she lives on the other sideof the tracks, ina poor, culturally diverse and bohemian side of Grand Republic barely noticed by the city's elite, unless they are slum landlords. Jinny is a draftsman working for a Jewish firm. Her friends are her age and politically radical. They can be youthfully silly as when one says "Hail the Hippopotamus" and the rest dutifully guffaw. An older lawyer, Sweeney Fishberg, seems normal in Jinny's hippy milieu and eccentric in Cass's stuffy law court, but isa happy warrior in both worlds.

Feeling a fish out of water amid the tempestuous young talkers at a party Cass attended in Jinny's boarding house, the Judge nonetheless awoke when Jinny's employer and wife dropped by, along with Sweeney Fishberg, "... perhaps the most remarkable man in the cosmos of Grand Republic and surrounding terrain. He was an attorney, of liberal tastes, equally likely to take a labor-union case for nothing or to take the most fraudulent of damage suits for a contingent fee which, to the fury of his Yankee wife, he was likely to give to a fund for strikers -- any strikers on any strike."

"He was a saint and shyster; part Jewish and part Irish and part German; he had once acted in a summer stock company, and once taught Greek in a West Virginia college; he was a Roman Catholic, and a mystic who bothered his priest with metaphysical questions; he was in open sympathy with the Communist Party. "

"For twenty years, ever since he had come to Grand Republic from his natal Massachusetts at the age of thirty, he had been fighting all that was rich and proud and puffy in the town, and he had never won a single fight nor lost his joy in any of them, and he was red-headed and looked like a Cockney comedian. He was nine year older than Cass, and no lawyer in the district ever brought such doubtful suits into court, yet no lawyer was more decorous, more co-operative with the judge, and Cass believed that Sweeney had thrown to him all the votes he could influence in Cass's elections as congressman, judge, and member of the Aurora Borealis Literary Association." (Ch. 10)

Near novel's end Sweeney Fishberg was defending before Judge Timberlane a laborer charged with killing his foreman with a pickaxe. Fishberg suggested that another worker had done the killing and made the case revolve around which laborer was wearing a mustache at the time of killing. In Timberlane's chambers at day's end, court reporter George Hame said that Fishberg would convince the jury that the accused was not guilty if only "he had a single bit of evidence on his side." To the judge's question, "What is guilt,"Hame replied, "You want a real definition, Judge -- one to go in the textbooks? ... Guilt is what makes you send for Sweeney Fishberg." (Ch.47

A reader might forget the names of most of Sinclair Lewis's characters in this or any other novel. He will not forget that "most remarkable man," Sweeney Fishberg. Sinclair Lewis made millions by writing about and poking fun at some of the most ordinary, underachieving middle class men and women in America. Why did he not more often imagine in printgiants resembling at least Babe Ruth, Marian Anderson,Charles Lindbergh, H.L. Mencken, Woodrow Wilson and others who made history throughout his lifetime? If Sinclair Lewis is guilty of anything, it is of NOT sending more often for Sweeney Fishberg.

-OOO-

Circa 1945 Review by Henry Seidel Canby
From Book-of-the-Month Club News upon First Edition publication:"This book responds to the test by which one of the wisest of professional readers applies to all his manuscripts, it most humanly bleeds.It is Sinclair Lewis' nineteenth novel (some of which have bled very little), and it is one of his best.Also, in spite of being his nineteenth, it is technically advanced, and fresh in its subject matter, wise, and sincere.The old master has learned how to use words with the minimum of wastage.Gone now are the descriptive catalogues of the paraphernalia of American life, which, after the first years, grew as tiresome as Whitman's lists of occupations.Dropped now (and sometimes we miss them) are the incredibly realistic conversations, rambling on for the sake of sarcasm.So sure is the hold on the theme that the author can insert incisive narratives (a lifetime in two pages) of marital relationships which never enter into the story, but are like the symbolic paintings on the walls of palaces where Chaucer stages his stories.Yet these brief narratives are not symbolic but bitterly real, and supply without changing the focus of the novel many other tragedies and comedies of marriage being acted in Grand Republic, Minnesota, where Judge Timberlane and his Jinny played theirs with the egotism of self-centered experience.¶ You will find in Cass Timberlane [italics] most of Sinclair Lewis' faults as an observer of life.If you go with him, you must share experience as he sees it.To certain aspects of any society he has always been, and is, insensitive.Thin-skinned himself, it is the coarse, the rough, the lacquered with insincerity that set his imagination sparking.It is reconciliation with the man at home as God chose to make him, which is his only solution--but a reconciliation not in principle but by bitter-won personal experience.No one can doubt that his America is in three dimensions, and each angle a deep one, but it is often a shocking America, healthily shocking to those who draw their judgments more from the New Testament and less from the Old than does Lewis.¶ But you will find also a double charge of Lewis' outstanding virtues in Cass Timberlane [italics].He is a fierce and fearless writer, who has not been afraid to make this novel of marriage an unsparing search into the sexual where it is relevant, thus writing one of the frankest books of our generation, yet without a trace of the sickly pornography of some modern realistic fiction.And he is a humorous writer, whose humor makes up for its lack of amiability by a brilliant wit for which, so it seems to me, Lewis has never had enough praise.And he is a tender writer, when the scene deserves it, which makes him deeply moving at climactic moments, because he holds tight to his sympathies until his characters have as much as they can bear.Finally, like all novelists of the first rank, he never forgets, at least in this book, that his first job is to tell a story.¶ So much about the novel in general.The theme of the story itself is as old as the hills (like most stories).It is the tale of middle-aged Judge Timberlane, stiff, very human, incorruptible, with a zest for life, and of his love at first sight for Jinny, the light-footed girl, with black hair, and a sprightly eye, and a quick intelligence.But it is still more a story of the adjustment of experience to inexperience.For the judge has had one marriage, with a selfish waster, and his heart is full of romantic ideals suppressed by a disillusioning experience.And his girl, Jinny, is like a child asked to go on a diet before she has tasted the foods on a normal table.This oversimplifies, but it is the center of the story.The older man puts everything he has into his marriage, and his unswerving and uncritical love for his wife makes her (which is not usually true of Lewis' women) as charming and as companionable and as desirable as he thinks.But he is daily, hourly afraid that he cannot give enough, that there are experiences he is making impossible for her.He is afraid of her, and he is right.It is a 'heel,' a professional seducer of women needing relief from their husbands--and Cass' best friend--who is the serpent in this near-tragedy.He is a man who could feel like a woman, give her what she really wanted which was a chance to give all herself, not to be protected, or too much loved.And it was not until the selfish Jinny (as a man would write) had given to the wrong man that he became wrong for her, and she could come back to an equality of love.¶ In spite of Jinny's charm and the likable qualities of two other women (and one female cat) in this narrative, Cass Timberlane [italics] is one of the most devastating attacks on women in American society that I have ever read.The men range all the way from scabrous immortality to vulgar coarseness, pitiable weakness, or sins and virtues so dull and commonplace as to take them out of sympathy.But the women--drunkards, lecherous, avaricious, unscrupulous parasites upon their men whom they ruin, spiritual murderers, loud vulgarians--if they were not so specialized they would be terrifying.And indeed, the verdict of this book and the knife of its satire, is that American men, excepting the 'wolves,' the scoundrels, the 'heels,' and the perverted, are afraid of their wives, and that is the chief trouble with what we call typical American society.Nevertheless, if often horrifying and sometimes painful, and certainly not always fair, this is not a cynical story, if only because Cass and Jinny, for whom after all it was written, are rare human beings that any discriminating person would wish to have as friends.--Henry Seidel Canby" ... Read more

Product Description
Since the 1922 publication of Babbitt, its eponymous anti-hero-a real estate broker and relentless social climber inhabiting a Midwestern town called Zenith-has become a symbol of stultifying values and middle class hypocrisy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Experience
the book arrived on time and in great condition, wish this provider had all the books that I need. ... Read more

Product Description

This collection was designed for optimal navigation on Kindle and other electronic devices. This collection offers lower price, the convenience of a one-time download, and it reduces the clutter in your digital library. All books included in this collection feature a hyperlinked table of contents and footnotes. The collection is complimented by an author biography.

Customer Reviews (3)

Excellent American classic!
I've only read Main Street and Babbitt, but enjoyed them both. I favored Main Street more I think because the main character is a female (can relate to her situation). Babbitt really hit home with me in a different way. Even though the story takes place almost 100 years ago it is still very relevant today. Great deal for a great collection.

Perfect format for the Kindle!
Perfect format for the Kindle!

I've purchased over 20 of these complete author collections from this publisher. These collections work superbly on the Kindle. Take Mark Twain collection. The collection includes huge number of Mark Twain's works all in one place, searchable and well-organized. If I would have purchased all these books separately, searching for `The Gilded Age' among hundreds of other books on my Kindle would be a nightmare. With Mobile Reference collections, I simply click `Works of Mark Twain', then click Novels> `The Gilded Age'. I can also click `List of works in alphabetical order' > `G' > `Gilded Age'. If I forget the book title but remember that `The Gilded Age' was written by Mark Twain early in his career, I can click on `List of works in chronological order' > (1873) `The Gilded Age'.

If I want another author, say, Charles Dickens, I click `Home' > `Works of Charles Dickens'. If I want Dostoevsky, I click `Works of Fyodor Dostoyevsky'. I think this format is perfect for organizing books on the Kindle.

Inside collections, each book has links to chapters and footnotes. The text is nicely formatted and seems to be complete and accurate - something that cannot always be said about inexpensive ebooks. I think these collections are great bargains both in terms of saved money, time, and book organization!

Sinclair Lewis ahead of his time
Works of Sinclair Lewis. Main Street, Babbitt, The Innocents, The Trail of the Hawk, The Job, Free Air & more. Published by MobileReference (mobi).

Excellent read, extremely interesting and intelligent prose. If you enjoy it half as much as I did, you'll love it. ... Read more

Product Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Classic
Sinclair Lewis has to be one of the "great" writers of all time.In Babbitt he describes an era using fictional characters to represent the times in which many changes were taking place in the social environment of our country.America was coming out of the rural age and into the age of technical development, and characters reflected the effects of these changes in Lewis' novel. Great reading, and an opportunity to reflect on an important stage in America's development. ... Read more

Product Description
This file includes: Our Mr. Wrenn (1914), The Trail of the Hawk (1915), The Innocents (1917), The Job (1917), Free Air (1919), Main Street (1920), and Babbitt (1922). According to Wikipedia: "Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. In 1930, he became the first American to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, "for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humor, new types of characters." His works are known for their insightful and critical views of American society and capitalist values, as well as their strong characterizations of modern working women." ... Read more