Damaged Goods

by Upton Sinclair

Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. (September 20, 1878 - November 25, 1968) was an American writer, muckraker, political activist and the 1934 Democratic Party nominee for Governor of California 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 20th century, and he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1943.
In 1906, Sinclair acquired particular fame for his classic muck-raking novel, The Jungle, which exposed labor and sanitary conditions in the U.S. meatpacking 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 muck-raking 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 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 "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.
Many of his novels can be read as historical works. Writing during the Progressive Era, Sinclair describes the world of the industrialized United States from both the working man's and the industrialist's points of view. Novels such as King Coal (1917), The Coal War (published posthumously), Oil! (1927), and The Flivver King (1937) describe the working conditions of the coal, oil, and auto industries at the time.
The Flivver King describes the rise of Henry Ford, his "wage reform" and his company's Sociological Department, to his decline into antisemitism as publisher of The Dearborn Independent. King Coal confronts John D. Rockefeller Jr., and his role in the 1914 Ludlow Massacre in the coal fields of Colorado.
Sinclair was an outspoken socialist and ran unsuccessfully for Congress as a nominee from the Socialist Party. He was also the Democratic Party candidate for Governor of California during the Great Depression, running under the banner of the End Poverty in California campaign, but was defeated in the 1934 election. (wikipedia.org)

Genres: Classics

114 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
.