Damaged Goods

by Upton Sinclair

1913. Novelized version of the Great Play, Les Avaries, with the approval of the author Eugene Brieux. American novelist, essayist, playwright, and short story writer, whose works reflect socialistic views. Among Sinclair's most famous books is The Jungle, which launched a government investigation of the meatpacking plants of Chicago, and changed the food laws of America. In Damaged Goods the horrors of venereal disease are explored in this social drama. The story centers on a young couple whose future is endangered when the husband makes a terrible mistake. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.

Genres: Classics

116 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1913

About the author

Upton Beall Sinclair, Jr. was an American author who wrote close to one hundred books in many genres. He achieved popularity in the first half of the twentieth century, acquiring particular fame for his classic muckraking novel, The Jungle (1906). To gather information for the novel, Sinclair spent seven weeks undercover working in the meat packing plants of Chicago. These direct experiences exposed the horrific 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. The Jungle has remained continuously in print since its initial publication. In 1919, he published The Brass Check, a muckraking exposé of American journalism that publicized the issue of yellow journalism and the limitations of the “free press” in the United States. Four years after the initial 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." In 1943, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Sinclair also ran unsuccessfully for Congress as a Socialist, and was the Democratic Party nominee for Governor of California in 1934, though his highly progressive campaign was defeated.

Reviews

[Jessica Reuter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good ole Upton Sinclair, fighting the good fight! A novelization of a French play intended to educate the public about their health and destigmatize syphilis. I'm a sucker for the promotion of knowledge, but this got a bit dry every other five pages. I think it probably worked better in its original form, but it's a clever way to promote awareness of communicable diseases. The ebook version I read had quite a few typos peppered throughout, too, which didn't help anything, but overall this was enjoyable.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

A moralising, but well told, book about the scourge of STI’s (syphillis in this case) in the early 20tj century.

A book / play essentially calling for better sex education, economic support & assistance for the poor and greater understanding by all.

[Laura Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Damaged Goods is most and foremost, a cautionary tale. Basically, it teaches us that one accident, one moment of carelessness is enough to fall from grace ... and get sick.

In our day and age, we take for granted that we need to go through a medical examination in order to get married, but during the author's time (the book was first published in 1913), those were hush-hush things.

The story covers various aspects of not only the intimate nature of the disease, but also the societal, politic and medical ones. Syphilis is presented as a matter of public health and safety, and it is the doctor's endeavor to change things that I found to be the red thread of the story and not the personal family drama.

I give it 4 stars because it feels, indeed, novelized, in the sense that the characters interact too theatrically, entering and exiting the scene as if on cue.

[Conquering Lioness · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow this book is unbelieveable

[J.A.]

I did not know this book was about syphillis. But it's the best book about syphillis I've read this year.

[Grannyvango · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story about wealthy man with sid and peoples additude about sexauly transmitted disease and how they delt with itand how people with money felt they were above others
.