The Metropolis - Sinclair, Upton

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Résumé :
When Allan moves to New York City from Mississippi, his brother, Oliver, who had been living in the city for a few years prior, decides to introduce Allan to an exclusive group of wealthy people. Hoping that it will help Allan's law business, Oliver gets Allan invites to parties and meetings, which quickly grant Allan access to the decadence of the rich. With expensive cars, private trains, thousand-dollar clothing, and gluttonous meals made by servants, these rich elites are living at the height of luxury. Meanwhile, the lower-class citizens of the city are stuck in job with poor work conditions, terrible pay, and unsafe environments. Most even struggled to keep their family fed. Allan is unable to turn a blind eye to the suffering. He launches a court case to help lessen the blight of the poor, but soon realizes that the people he is fighting against are the elite citizens he had met before-the most powerful people in New York. As Allan remembers the drama of the elite, including torrid affairs, issues of alcoholism, venomous gossip, and vicious backstabbing, he knows that he must be careful and clever to survive the shallow values and cruel intentions of the wealthy society. Known as a master of detail, Upton Sinclair depicts a story of high drama with meticulous prose and compelling themes. Set in the exciting scene of New York City in 1907, The Metropolis depicts a duality by showing both the glamourous and obscene lifestyle of the rich and the desolate, difficult life of the poor and working class. This contrast describes the cruelty of the rich, often making the poor victims to their greed and selfishness. With a compelling message, plot twists, and backstabbing, The Metropolis is both an entertaining and enthralling read. This edition of The Metropolis by Upton Sinclair features an eye-catching cover design and is printed in a modern and readable font. With these accommodations, contemporary readers are able to enjoy Upton Sinclair's distinguished novel with style and ease.

Biographie:
Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. (1878 - 1968) was an American writer who wrote nearly 100 books and other works in several genres. Sinclair's work was well-known and popular in the first half of the twentieth century and he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1943. In 1906, Sinclair acquired particular fame for his classic muckraking novel The Jungle, which exposed conditions in the U.S. meat packing industry, causing a public uproar that contributed in part to the passage a few months later of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act. In 1919, he published The Brass Check, a muckraking expos? of American journalism that publicized the issue of yellow journalism and the limitations of the free press in the United States. Four years after publication of The Brass Check, the first code of ethics for journalists was created. Time magazine called him a man with every gift except humor and silence. He is also well remembered for the line: It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it. He used this line in speeches and the book about his campaign for governor as a way to explain why the editors and publishers of the major newspapers in California would not treat seriously his proposals for old age pensions and other progressive reforms. Upton Sinclair was considered a force of nature -- being not only prolific in his novel-writing but a political force of decided influence. Unknown to many of his admirers, Sinclair also wrote adventure fiction, under the name Ensign Clark Fitch, U.S.N....

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