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    A Captain Of Industry: "They were a gigantic combination of capital, which had crushed all opposition, and overthrown the laws of the land, and was preying upon the people."
    A Captain Of Industry: "They were a gigantic combination of capital, which had crushed all opposition, and overthrown the laws of the land, and was preying upon the people."
    A Captain Of Industry: "They were a gigantic combination of capital, which had crushed all opposition, and overthrown the laws of the land, and was preying upon the people."
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    A Captain Of Industry: "They were a gigantic combination of capital, which had crushed all opposition, and overthrown the laws of the land, and was preying upon the people."

    By Upton Sinclair

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    Upton Sinclair (1878-1968) was a prolific American novelist and a political activist. Apart from his bestselling novels, which told in black and white, illuminated the realities of the United States at the turn of the twentieth century, he is remembered today for championing socialist causes that were naturally unpopular in conservative America. In classics like ‘The Jungle’ his work had considerable effects on American politics and legislation. Sinclair’s socialist ideals and dreams found their way to his fiction as he believed that no art can be practiced for art’s sake as long as humanity still suffers from persistent dangers and evils. Such orientations have often subjected Sinclair to harsh criticism and even to demonization from numerous critics and politicians of his time, the most distinguished among which was probably President Theodore Roosevelt. However his legacy is that of a successful and established novelist and activist who if not always righting the balance was able to bring an incisive mind and mass exposure to many areas and industries.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCopyright Group
    Release dateFeb 11, 2014
    ISBN9781783948499
    A Captain Of Industry: "They were a gigantic combination of capital, which had crushed all opposition, and overthrown the laws of the land, and was preying upon the people."
    Author

    Upton Sinclair

    Upton Sinclair (1878-1968) was an American writer from Maryland. Though he wrote across many genres, Sinclair’s most famous works were politically motivated. His self-published novel, The Jungle, exposed the labor conditions in the meatpacking industry. This novel even inspired changes for working conditions and helped pass protection laws. The Brass Check exposed poor journalistic practices at the time and was also one of his most famous works.  As a member of the socialist party, Sinclair attempted a few political runs but when defeated he returned to writing. Sinclair won the Pulitzer Prize in 1943 for Fiction. Several of his works were made into film adaptations and one earned two Oscars.

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      Book preview

      A Captain Of Industry - Upton Sinclair

      A Captain of Industry, The Story of a Civilized Man by Upton Sinclair

      Upton Sinclair (1878-1968) was a prolific American novelist and a political activist. Apart from his bestselling novels, which illuminated the realities of the United States at the turn of the twentieth century, he is remembered today for championing socialist causes that were naturally unpopular in conservative America.  In classics like ‘The Jungle’ his work had considerable effects on American politics and legislation. Sinclair’s socialist ideals and dreams found their way to his fiction as he believed that no art can be practiced for art’s sake as long as humanity still suffers from persistent dangers and evils. Such orientations have often subjected Sinclair to harsh criticism and even to demonization from numerous critics and politicians of his time, the most distinguished among which was probably President Theodore Roosevelt.  However his legacy is that of a successful and established novelist and activist who if not always righting the balance was able to bring an incisive mind and mass exposure to many areas and industries.

      Index Of Contents

      Preface

      Chapter I

      Chapter II

      Chapter III

      Chapter IV

      Chapter V

      Chapter VI

      Chapter VII

      Chapter VIII

      Chapter IX

      Chapter X

      Chapter XI

      Chapter XII

      Chapter XIII

      Chapter XIV

      Chapter XV

      Chapter XVI

      Chapter XVII

      Chapter XVIII

      Chapter XIX

      Chapter XX

      Chapter XXI

      Chapter XXII

      Chapter XXIII

      Chapter XXIV

      Chapter XXV

      Chapter XXVI

      Chapter XXVII

      Chapter XXVIII

      Chapter XXIX

      Chapter XXX

      Chapter XXXI

      Chapter XXXII

      Chapter XXXIII

      Chapter XXXIV

      Chapter XXXV

      Chapter XXXVI

      Chapter XXXVII

      Upton Sinclair – A Short Biography

      Upton Sinclair – A Concise Bibliography

      PREFACE

      This little story was written nearly five years ago. The verdict upon it was that it was unpublishable, and so I put it away until I should be in position to publish it myself.

      Recently I read it over, and got an interesting vision of how the times have changed in five years. I put it away a revolutionary document; I took it out a quiet and rather obvious statement of generally accepted views. In reading the story, one should bear in mind that it was written before any of the literature of exposure had appeared; that its writer drew nothing from Mr. Steffens' probing of political corruption, nor from Miss Tarbell's analysis of the railroad rebate, nor from Mr. Lawson's exposé of the inner life of Frenzied Finance.

      U.S.

      Chapter I

      I purpose in this chronicle to tell the story of A CIVILIZED MAN: casting aside all Dreams and Airy Imaginations, and dealing with that humble Reality which lies at our doorsteps.

      Chapter II

      Every proverb, every slang phrase and colloquialism, is what one might call a petrified inspiration. Once upon a time it was a living thing, a lightning flash in some man's soul; and now it glides off our tongue without our ever thinking of its meaning. So, when the event transpired which marks the beginning of my story, the newspapers one and all remarked that Robert van Rensselaer was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

      Into the particular circumstances of the event it is not necessary to go, furthermore than to say that the arrival occasioned considerable discomfort, to the annoyance of my hero's mother, who had never experienced any discomfort before. His father, Mr. Chauncey van Rensselaer, was a respected member of our metropolitan high society, combining the major and minor desiderata of wealth and good-breeding, and residing in a twentieth-century palace at number four thousand eleven hundred and forty-four Fifth Avenue. At the time of the opening of our story van Rensselaer père had fled from the scene of the trouble and was passing the time playing billiards with some sympathetic friends, and when the telephone-bell rang they opened some champagne and drank to the health of van Rensselaer fils. Later on, when the father stood in the darkened apartment and gazed upon the red and purple mite of life, proud emotions swelled high in his heart, and he vowed that he would make a gentleman of Robert van Rensselaer, a gentleman after the pattern of his father.

      At the outset of the career of my hero I have to note the amount of attention which he received from the press, and from an anxious public. Mr. Chauncey van Rensselaer was wealthy, according to New York and Fifth Avenue standards, and Baby van Rensselaer was provided with an introductory outfit of costumes at an estimated cost of seventeen thousand dollars. I have a file of van Rensselaer clippings, and would quote the elaborate descriptions, and preserve them to a grateful posterity; but in the meantime Master Robert van Rensselaer would be grown up. I pass on to the time when he was a growing boy, with two governesses, and several tutors, and a groom, and such other attendants as every boy has to have.

      Chapter III

      Many lads would have been spoiled by so much attention; and so it is only fair to say at the outset that Robbie was never spoiled; that to the end of his days he was what is known as a good fellow, and that it was only when he could not have what he wanted that anger ever appeared in his eyes.

      Before many more years he went away to a great rich school, followed by the prayers of a family, and by the valet and the groom. There he had a suite of rooms, and two horses, and a pair of dogs with pedigrees longer than his own; and there he learned to smoke a brand of choice cigarettes, and to play poker, and to take a proper interest in race-track doings. There also, just when he was ready to come away and to take a great college by storm, Robbie met with an exciting adventure. This is a work of realism, and works of realism always go into detail as to such matters; and so it must be explained that Robbie fell desperately in love with a pretty girl who lived in the country near the school; and that Robbie was young and handsome and wealthy and witty, and by no means disposed to put up with not having his own way; and that he had it; and that when he came to leave school, the girl fled from home and followed him; and that there were some blissful months in the city, and then some complications; and that when the crisis came Robbie was just on the point of getting married when the curiosity of his father was excited by his heavy financial demands; and, finally, that Mr. Chauncey van Rensselaer and Mr. Robert van Rensselaer held an interview in the former's study.

      Now, Robbie, said he, how long has this been going on?

      About a year, sir, said Robbie, gazing at the floor.

      A year? Humph! And why didn't you tell me about it when you first got into trouble?

      I-I didn't like to, said Robbie.

      To be sure, said the father, "boys

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