Radical Innocent: Upton Sinclair

Praise

“Lively, unsparing look at the turn-of-the-century muckraker, social critic and novelist who changed the way America did business….Arthur organizes his biography into chapters reflecting Sinclair’s various crusading “selves”—e.g., The Warrior, The Pilgrim of Love, etc.—and uses a deft, light touch…An immensely readable biography.”– Kirkus Reviews

“..excellent new biography.”– USA Today
 
“…a model of good biography.” –Los Angeles Magazine
 
“Absorbing.” –The Wall Street Journal

“intimate and intellectually astute.”- The New Yorker

“enlightening, frequently stinging biography . . . Arthur organizes a vast amount of information into a fast-flowing, witty, and incisive narrative.” – Booklist [starred review]
“a well-researched, balanced and fascinating portrait.” – Publishers Weekly
“Neither hagiographic nor condescending, Arthur is an exemplary biographer, interested in human beings for their own sake, in all their unvarnished oddity.” – The Nation

“Few authors have led as full and fascinating a career, and rare is the biographer capable of packing the fascinating fullness as compactly– and apparently completely – as Arthur has done.” – Chicago Sun Times
 
“…an engrossing and enlightening account of Sinclair’s life and the country he helped to transform. . . historical biography at its entertaining and thought-provoking finest.” – Forbes Book Club
 
“The chapters in Radical Innocent that describe the research and writing of The Jungle – the most famous and still the most powerful of all the muckraking novels – are thrilling. . . .Arthur captures nicely Sinclair’s almost absurd innocence, his boundless enthusiasm as he met journalists, welfare workers, labor organizers and the men and women who worked in the slaughterhouses.” – Los Angeles Times
 
“…an outstanding biography. I recommend it without reservation.” – David M. Kinchen, Huntington News Network Book Critic
 
“…a bracing biography.” – Boston Globe

“…admirable . . . compelling look at an intellectual life lived to maximum effect.”– Philadelphia Inquirer

“engaging and perceptive . . . sensitive, engrossing, and even amusing exploration of Sinclair’s complex private life.” – Christian Science Monitor

“graceful new biography.”- Columbia Journalism Review

It is to Arthur’s credit that he can make Sinclair not only interesting yet likeable . . . Radical Innocent is not only refreshing, it’s a shock to read: a biography of a survivor. . . The author has done a Herculean job of sifting through what must, literarily, have been tons of material to produce a thoroughly readable book about a complex man.- Toronto Star

“Radical Innocent is a wonderful gift . . . a vital biography of an American treasure, and Arthur proves himself as Sinclair’s vital biographer.” – American Way [American Airlines Magazine]
“Few authors have led as full and fascinating a career, and rare is the biographer capable of packing the fascinating fullness as compactly – and apparently completely – as Arthur has done.” –Denver Post

“The book provides an interesting narrative on an extraordinary American life. It not only offers specific details rendered from meticulous research, but also a historical context that makes it easier to understand the circumstances of the time period in which this “most conservative of revolutionaries” worked.”-The Post and Courier