Description

Description: Sinclair addresses this one page typed letter signed to Charles Johnson Post… artist, journalist and editorial writer with the Associated Press. In 1919 Sinclair’s book The Brass Check was published. It was a strong critique of “free press” in the United States. In short he felt that “American journalism is a class institution, serving the rich and spurning the poor.” In this December 30th, 1919 letter Sinclair states in full: “My dear Mr. Post: I have your letter, and I am extremely sorry indeed that I did not get your letter before the Brass Check went to press, for I had no intention of giving the impression which you got. I am not sure, however, whether you would have come away with the same impression from the entire book. You must understand that in the Appeal you are reading isolated pages, apart from their context. I assure you that I bear no enmity to Norman Hapgood and should have no interest in attacking him. In that part of the book I merely recite the facts of what happened, without doing much in the way of interpretation. I am quite well aware that Hapgood is an infinitely more liberal man than Ridgway. As for Thayer, I regard him as an absurd jackass. In the book I go ahead to tell at once of another experience with Everybody’s, in which they turned me down precisely as they did you. If I had heard your story I would have used that also. I will take the liberty of sending you the entire book, and then you can let me know how it strikes you.”

Upton Beall Sinclair, Jr. (1878-1968) is best remembered as the political activist and muck-raking author of The Jungle, based on the meatpacking industry in Chicago. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1943.

Typed on an 11″ x 8 1/2″ sheet of stationery imprinted: “Upton Sinclair Pasadena California”. Item #A01779

Condition: Mailing fold lines, partially reinforced on verso with archival tissue tape, 2 staple holes at left blank margin. A two word correction in his hand. Signed: “U Sinclair”. Generally good condition.