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THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF UPTON SINCLAIR

Name: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF UPTON SINCLAIR
Author: Upton Sinclair
ISBN: 125811500X

by Upton Sinclair ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 7, 1962

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This is Upton Sinclair's protest to the world signifying that he is still very much alive. One of the original muckrakers in the days of the other Roosevelt and contributing to Americana from this standpoint, Upton Sinclair tells us his story from the perspective of 83. From these pages much emerges as feebleness but those lines concern dimmed recollections of worlds past and not that of Sinclair himself. This is an intellectual's book dealing with one who made intellectual history, and no self-respecting intellectual tradesman will fail to read it. For this is the prodigious writer of hundreds of novels, plays, homilies, diatribes and pamphlets the man who discovered the Jungle in Armours Meat Industry at 28; who founded a Utopian cooperative in 1908 (where his admirer Hal Lewis took both his name and his Socialist politics and began his flight from Babbittry); and who muckraked through all America to become the finest and most devoted polemicist this country has seen. He authored a historical panorama of politics in his Lanny Budd series with as much dedication as he ran for Governor of California in his epic plan to save America in 1934. There are no characters in this autobiography, least of all himself. Nor is there insight into the great men with whom he shared his life. He fails to give us his personal story or his view of life in depth. All he has for writing tools is his propagandist's pen. And that is the way he tells it. The facts can be had from a literature class and Sinclair does not embroider. Yet this is a great man with a mediocre hand. The autobiography pulses with his greatness. The best polemicist of our time protested so well that every writer, of every shade, in America is still indebted to him for his struggle with the publishing world. This protest of life, at 83, telling many generations that Upton Sinclair is still among us, will be read more deeply than it was written.

Pub Date: Nov. 7, 1962

ISBN: 125811500X

Page Count: 360

Publisher: Harcourt, Brace & World

Review Posted Online: April 11, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1962

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE RETURN OF LANNY BUDD
by Upton Sinclair

- BOOK REVIEW
ENEMY HAD IT TOO
by Upton Sinclair

- BOOK REVIEW
ANOTHER PAMELA
by Upton Sinclair

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.