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This program was performed to improve the capabilities for modeling of passive components in computer-aided analysis of electronic circuits at frequencies up to 1 GHz. Techniques were developed to generate models that predict the parasitic behavior of discrete passive components. Both manufacturers' and measured data were used on this program. The data available from manufacturers were surveyed and classified. This data is generally limited to frequencies less than 100 MHz; it was used to develop appropriate modeling techniques for these frequencies. In addition, measurement techniques were identified for obtaining the necessary data and modeling techniques were developed for frequencies up to 1 GHz.

Bell System Technical Journal, 57: 7. September 1978 pp 2405-2434. SG Undersea Cable System: Semiconductor Devices and Passive Components. (Fox, W.M.; Yocom, W.H.; Munk, P.R.; Sartori, E.F.)

The excellent microwave properties of the High-Temperature-Superconductors (HTS) have been amply demonstrated in the laboratory by techniques such as resonant cavity, power transmission and microstrip resonator measurements. The low loss and high Q passive structures made possible with HTS, present attractive options for applications in commercial, military and spacebased systems. However, to readily insert HTS into these systems improvement is needed in such areas as repeatability in the deposition and processing of the HTS films, metal-contact formation, wire bonding, and overall film endurance to fabrication and assembly procedures. In this paper we present data compiled in our lab which illustrate many of the problems associated with these issues. Much of this data were obtained in the production of a space qualified hybrid receiver-downconverter module for the Naval Research Laboratory's High Temperature Superconductivity Space Experiment 2 (HTSSE-2). Examples of variations observed in starting films and finished circuits will be presented. It is shown that under identical processing the properties of the HTS films can degrade to varying extents. Finally, we present data on ohmic contacts and factors affecting their adhesion to HTS films, strength of wire bonds made to such contacts, and aging effects.

The excellent microwave properties of the High-Temperature-Superconductors (HTS) have been amply demonstrated in the laboratory by techniques such as resonant cavity, power transmission and microstrip resonator measurements. The low loss and high Q passive structures made possible with HTS, present attractive options for applications in commercial, military and spacebased systems. However, to readily insert HTS into these systems improvement is needed in such areas as repeatability in the deposition and processing of the HTS films, metal-contact formation, wire bonding, and overall film endurance to fabrication and assembly procedures. In this paper we present data compiled in our lab which illustrate many of the problems associated with these issues. Much of this data were obtained in the production of a space qualified hybrid receiver-downconverter module for the Naval Research Laboratory's High Temperature Superconductivity Space Experiment 2 (HTSSE-2). Examples of variations observed in starting films and finished circuits will be presented. It is shown that under identical processing the properties of the HTS films can degrade to varying extents. Finally, we present data on ohmic contacts and factors affecting their adhesion to HTS films, strength of wire bonds made to such contacts, and aging effects.

The excellent microwave properties of the High-Temperature-Superconductors (HTS) have been amply demonstrated in the laboratory by techniques such as resonant cavity, power transmission and microstrip resonator measurements. The low loss and high Q passive structures made possible with HTS, present attractive options for applications in commercial, military and spacebased systems. However, to readily insert HTS into these systems improvement is needed in such areas as repeatability in the deposition and processing of the HTS films, metal-contact formation, wire bonding, and overall film endurance to fabrication and assembly procedures. In this paper we present data compiled in our lab which illustrate many of the problems associated with these issues. Much of this data were obtained in the production of a space qualified hybrid receiver-downconverter module for the Naval Research Laboratory's High Temperature Superconductivity Space Experiment 2 (HTSSE-2). Examples of variations observed in starting films and finished circuits will be presented. It is shown that under identical processing the properties of the HTS films can degrade to varying extents. Finally, we present data on ohmic contacts and factors affecting their adhesion to HTS films, strength of wire bonds made to such contacts, and aging effects.

The report describes the design and development of the RF sections of a frequency translator and linear amplitude. modulator for high band, similar to units developed for low band on Contract N00014-74-C-0066 and N0014-75-C-0814. The microwave integrated circuits developed were principally alumina microstrip. Preliminary experiments on stripline components are also described. Final performance data on the translator and modulator are given and discussed. (Author)

The goal of this research was to develop an embedded magnetic memory technology to be integrated into a Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) fabrication process to provide radiation-hard, nonvolatile data storage. The benefits to spacecraft systems include the ability to power-down a subsystem while retaining system state, thus saving energy until the subsystem is required. This effort produced functioning magnetic tunneling junction (MTJ) memory cells, but they did not achieve the desired resistance ratio. Two circuit designs were developed based on magnetic memory elements: a magnetic latch, and a magnetic shadow memory to serve as a backup to volatile electronic memory. The thrust of this effort is to develop new families of on-chip passive components, particularly inductors and programmable resistors. These supplement the transistors for which CMOS processing technologies are highly optimized. This work resulted in thin-film planar inductors that exhibit 50% greater inductance per unit area by using ferrite cladding contain and shape electromagnetic fields.

We report on the design, fabrication and testing of two superconducting passive microwave components, a quadrature hybrid and a 20 dB directional coupler. These components are designed to be integrated with superconducting qubits or Josephson parametric amplifiers and used in quantum information processing applications. For the coupler, we measure return loss and isolation > 20 dB, and insertion loss < 0.3 dB in a 2 GHz band around 6 GHz. For the hybrid performance, we measure isolation > 20 dB and insertion loss < 0.3 dB in a 10% band around 6.5 GHz. These values are within the design specifications of our application; however, we find a 7% difference between the designed and measured center frequency for the hybrid.

We report on the design, fabrication and testing of two superconducting passive microwave components, a quadrature hybrid and a 20 dB directional coupler. These components are designed to be integrated with superconducting qubits or Josephson parametric amplifiers and used in quantum information processing applications. For the coupler, we measure return loss and isolation > 20 dB, and insertion loss < 0.3 dB in a 2 GHz band around 6 GHz. For the hybrid performance, we measure isolation > 20 dB and insertion loss < 0.3 dB in a 10% band around 6.5 GHz. These values are within the design specifications of our application; however, we find a 7% difference between the designed and measured center frequency for the hybrid.

Anti-air warfare (AAW) has been a top priority for the world's navies in developing tactics and choosing the most effective ship defense systems. Analyses of such extremely complex system behaviors require the utilization of innovative tools that are flexible, scalable and reusable. This thesis develops a model as an analysis tool to measure the effectiveness of radar and IR sensors in AAW area defense. The model is designed to support reuse, provide easy model configuration, flexibility and scale changes. A component-based simulation approach was adopted for this model using the JAVA (Trade mark) programming language to provide the necessary scalability and flexibility. The MODKIT approach was used as the architecture of component designs and SlMKIT, was used for discrete event simulation purposes. In addition, a small combat component library was constructed for future research. To demonstrate the analysis capability of the model a comparative analysis was conducted for radar and IR sensors in AAW area defense. The results of the simulation runs indicate that the model provides a good capability for aiding decision making, including effectiveness analysis, parameter sensitivity analysis, and exploratory analysis.

In order to promote public education and public safety, equal justice for all, a better informed citizenry, the rule of law, world trade and world peace, this legal document is hereby made available on a noncommercial basis, as it is the right of all humans to know and speak the laws that govern them. (For more information: 12 Tables of Code ) Name of Standards Organization: Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Division Name: Electronics and Information Technology Section Name: Audio, Video and Multimedia Systems and Equipment (LITD 7) Designator of Legally Binding Document: IS 14231-4 Title of Legally Binding Document: Cabled Distribution Systems for Television and Sound Signals, Part 4: Passive Coaxial Wideband Distribution Components Number of Amendments: Equivalence: IEC 60728-4 Superceding: Superceded by: LEGALLY BINDING DOCUMENT Step Out From the Old to the New --Jawaharlal Nehru Invent a new India using knowledge. --Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda

In order to promote public education and public safety, equal justice for all, a better informed citizenry, the rule of law, world trade and world peace, this legal document is hereby made available on a noncommercial basis, as it is the right of all humans to know and speak the laws that govern them. (For more information: 12 Tables of Code ) Name of Standards Organization: Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Division Name: Electronics and Information Technology Section Name: Audio, Video and Multimedia Systems and Equipment (LITD 7) Designator of Legally Binding Document: IS 14231-4 Title of Legally Binding Document: Cabled Distribution Systems for Television and Sound Signals, Part 4: Passive Coaxial Wideband Distribution Components Number of Amendments: Equivalence: IEC 60728-4 Superceding: Superceded by: LEGALLY BINDING DOCUMENT Step Out From the Old to the New --Jawaharlal Nehru Invent a new India using knowledge. --Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda

In order to promote public education and public safety, equal justice for all, a better informed citizenry, the rule of law, world trade and world peace, this legal document is hereby made available on a noncommercial basis, as it is the right of all humans to know and speak the laws that govern them. (For more information: 12 Tables of Code ) Name of Standards Organization: Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Division Name: Electronics and Information Technology Section Name: Audio, Video and Multimedia Systems and Equipment (LITD 7) Designator of Legally Binding Document: IS 14231-4 Title of Legally Binding Document: Cabled Distribution Systems for Television and Sound Signals, Part 4: Passive Coaxial Wideband Distribution Components Number of Amendments: Equivalence: IEC 60728-4 Superceding: Superceded by: LEGALLY BINDING DOCUMENT Step Out From the Old to the New --Jawaharlal Nehru Invent a new India using knowledge. --Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda

In order to promote public education and public safety, equal justice for all, a better informed citizenry, the rule of law, world trade and world peace, this legal document is hereby made available on a noncommercial basis, as it is the right of all humans to know and speak the laws that govern them. (For more information: 12 Tables of Code ) Name of Standards Organization: Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Division Name: Electronics and Information Technology Section Name: Audio, Video and Multimedia Systems and Equipment (LITD 7) Designator of Legally Binding Document: IS 14231-4 Title of Legally Binding Document: Cabled Distribution Systems for Television and Sound Signals, Part 4: Passive Coaxial Wideband Distribution Components Number of Amendments: Equivalence: IEC 60728-4 Superceding: Superceded by: LEGALLY BINDING DOCUMENT Step Out From the Old to the New --Jawaharlal Nehru Invent a new India using knowledge. --Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda

In order to promote public education and public safety, equal justice for all, a better informed citizenry, the rule of law, world trade and world peace, this legal document is hereby made available on a noncommercial basis, as it is the right of all humans to know and speak the laws that govern them. (For more information: 12 Tables of Code ) Name of Standards Organization: Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Division Name: Electronics and Information Technology Section Name: Audio, Video and Multimedia Systems and Equipment (LITD 7) Designator of Legally Binding Document: IS 14231-4 Title of Legally Binding Document: Cabled Distribution Systems for Television and Sound Signals, Part 4: Passive Coaxial Wideband Distribution Components Number of Amendments: Equivalence: IEC 60728-4 Superceding: Superceded by: LEGALLY BINDING DOCUMENT Step Out From the Old to the New --Jawaharlal Nehru Invent a new India using knowledge. --Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda

In order to promote public education and public safety, equal justice for all, a better informed citizenry, the rule of law, world trade and world peace, this legal document is hereby made available on a noncommercial basis, as it is the right of all humans to know and speak the laws that govern them. (For more information: 12 Tables of Code ) Name of Standards Organization: Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Division Name: Electronics and Information Technology Section Name: Audio, Video and Multimedia Systems and Equipment (LITD 7) Designator of Legally Binding Document: IS 14231-4 Title of Legally Binding Document: Cabled Distribution Systems for Television and Sound Signals, Part 4: Passive Coaxial Wideband Distribution Components Number of Amendments: Equivalence: IEC 60728-4 Superceding: Superceded by: LEGALLY BINDING DOCUMENT Step Out From the Old to the New --Jawaharlal Nehru Invent a new India using knowledge. --Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda

In order to promote public education and public safety, equal justice for all, a better informed citizenry, the rule of law, world trade and world peace, this legal document is hereby made available on a noncommercial basis, as it is the right of all humans to know and speak the laws that govern them. (For more information: 12 Tables of Code ) Name of Standards Organization: Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Division Name: Electronics and Information Technology Section Name: Audio, Video and Multimedia Systems and Equipment (LITD 7) Designator of Legally Binding Document: IS 14231-4 Title of Legally Binding Document: Cabled Distribution Systems for Television and Sound Signals, Part 4: Passive Coaxial Wideband Distribution Components Number of Amendments: Equivalence: IEC 60728-4 Superceding: Superceded by: LEGALLY BINDING DOCUMENT Step Out From the Old to the New --Jawaharlal Nehru Invent a new India using knowledge. --Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda

In order to promote public education and public safety, equal justice for all, a better informed citizenry, the rule of law, world trade and world peace, this legal document is hereby made available on a noncommercial basis, as it is the right of all humans to know and speak the laws that govern them. (For more information: 12 Tables of Code ) Name of Standards Organization: Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Division Name: Electrotechnical Section Name: Basic Electrotechnical Standards (ETD 1) Designator of Legally Binding Document: IS 12032-4 Title of Legally Binding Document: Graphical symbols for diagrams in the field of electrotechnology, Part 4: Passive components Number of Amendments: Equivalence: IEC Pub 60617-4 Superceding: Superceded by: LEGALLY BINDING DOCUMENT Step Out From the Old to the New --Jawaharlal Nehru Invent a new India using knowledge. --Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda

The survivability of aircraft and their capability of carrying out different mission rely on numerous sensor systems such as radars, altimeters, radionavigation, measure and countermeasure equipments. It is very important that the most advanced semiconductor technologies be used in those systems as early as possible because avionic equipment performance is limited by the available components. This specialists' meeting focused on emerging semiconductor component and sensor technologies. NATO Furnished.

The survivability of aircraft and their capability of carrying out different mission rely on numerous sensor systems such as radars, altimeters, radionavigation, measure and countermeasure equipments. It is very important that the most advanced semiconductor technologies be used in those systems as early as possible because avionic equipment performance is limited by the available components. This specialists' meeting focused on emerging semiconductor component and sensor technologies. NATO Furnished.

From the bitsavers.org collection, a scanned-in computer-related document. components :: sprague :: C-567B Sprague Passive Electronic Components 1985

A method of determining the bit error rate (BER) of a digital circuit from the measurement of the analog S-parameters of the circuit has been developed. The method is based on the measurement of the noise and the standard deviation of the noise in the S-parameters. Once the standard deviation and the mean of the S-parameters are known, the BER of the circuit can be calculated using the normal Gaussian function.

A method of determining the bit error rate (BER) of a digital circuit from the measurement of the analog S-parameters of the circuit has been developed. The method is based on the measurement of the noise and the standard deviation of the noise in the S-parameters. Once the standard deviation and the mean of the S-parameters are known, the BER of the circuit can be calculated using the normal Gaussian function.

The results of a comparative study on noise characteristics of basic power combining/dividing and phase shifting schemes are presented. The theoretical basics of thermal noise in a passive linear multiport are discussed. A new formalism is presented to describe the noise behavior of the passive circuits, and it is shown that the fundamental results are conveniently achieved using this description. The results of analyses concerning the noise behavior of basic power combining/dividing structures (the Wilkinson combiner, 90 deg hybrid coupler, hybrid ring coupler, and the Lange coupler) are presented. Three types of PIN-diode switch phase shifters are analyzed in terms of noise performance.

Active and Passive Electronic Components is an active publication devoted to the science and technology of all types of electronic components. Launched in 1974—as a continuation of the periodical Thin Films ,&nbsp;with volume numbering restarting at 1—it is currently published open access by Hindawi Limited. This publication is dedicated to the propagation of advancements in the science and technology underlying electronic components, offering insights into the development, implementation, and analysis of new component technologies, materials, and manufacturing processes. It publishes experimental and theoretical papers on topics including electron tubes, transistors, integrated circuits, semiconductor materials, thick-film materials, resistors, capacitors, solid-state memories, and thin-film materials processes. Active and Passive Electronic Components can be found online at: https://www.hindawi.com/journals/apec/ Publication History: Electrocomponent Science and Technology 0305-3091 Formerly (until 1985) USA United States Thin Films 0040-6082 Superseded (in 1974) USA United States

Active and Passive Electronic Components is an active publication devoted to the science and technology of all types of electronic components. Launched in 1974—as a continuation of the periodical Thin Films ,&nbsp;with volume numbering restarting at 1—it is currently published open access by Hindawi Limited. This publication is dedicated to the propagation of advancements in the science and technology underlying electronic components, offering insights into the development, implementation, and analysis of new component technologies, materials, and manufacturing processes. It publishes experimental and theoretical papers on topics including electron tubes, transistors, integrated circuits, semiconductor materials, thick-film materials, resistors, capacitors, solid-state memories, and thin-film materials processes. Active and Passive Electronic Components can be found online at: https://www.hindawi.com/journals/apec/ Publication History: Electrocomponent Science and Technology 0305-3091 Formerly (until 1985) USA United States Thin Films 0040-6082 Superseded (in 1974) USA United States

Anti-air warfare (AAW) has been a top priority for the world's navies in developing tactics and choosing the most effective ship defense systems. Analyses of such extremely complex system behaviors require the utilization of innovative tools that are flexible, scalable and reusable. This thesis develops a model as an analysis tool to measure the effectiveness of radar and IR sensors in AAW area defense. The model is designed to support reuse, provide easy model configuration, flexibility and scale changes. A component-based simulation approach was adopted for this model using the JAVA (Trade mark) programming language to provide the necessary scalability and flexibility. The MODKIT approach was used as the architecture of component designs and SlMKIT, was used for discrete event simulation purposes. In addition, a small combat component library was constructed for future research. To demonstrate the analysis capability of the model a comparative analysis was conducted for radar and IR sensors in AAW area defense. The results of the simulation runs indicate that the model provides a good capability for aiding decision making, including effectiveness analysis, parameter sensitivity analysis, and exploratory analysis.

Using Si/SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistors with a maximum oscillation frequency of 52 GHz and a novel structure for passive components, a two-stage K-band lumped-element amplifier has been designed and fabricated on high-resistivity Si substrates. The chip size including biasing and RF chokes is 0.92 x 0.67 sq mm.

Using Si/SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistors with a maximum oscillation frequency of 52 GHz and a novel structure for passive components, a two-stage K-band lumped-element amplifier has been designed and fabricated on high-resistivity Si substrates. The chip size including biasing and RF chokes is 0.92 x 0.67 sq mm.

This paper employs the active input current filtering concept developed and explained to optimize the conventional passive filter components in a two-stage telecommunication inverter. A prototype inverter has been designed for a rated power of 800 W. Optimization of the passive filter components consisting of inductance inductors tank (LTank) and capacitance capacitors tank (CTank) was performed through simulations. The simulation model used for this optimization was validated using the developed prototype. The focus of this work is to limit the input direct current (DC) current ripple within the limits specified in European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) 300132-2 for a battery supplied telecommunication inverter and optimize the passive filter components. Using the active filtering technique, limit the input current ripple and simultaneously reducing the filter capacity in DC-link. This advantage of active filtering technology over the conventional passive inductors and capacitors (LC) filter concept is explored and demonstrated in this paper.

The development of resistors, capacitors, and interconnect metalizations utilizing a low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) process is described. The LPCVD process allows the passive components to be fabricated at temperatures higher than their highest operating temperatures. The deposition of thin films by LPCVD is accomplished by reacting one or more gases on the surface of a heated substrate. The substrates to be coated are placed on a graphite susceptor and then loaded into the center of a quartz reaction tube. The RF power is applied to the coil on the outside of the reaction tube which in turn is coupled into the graphite susceptor causing it to heat. Pressures of several torr or less are typical, with carrier flow rates of 0.1 to 2.0 liters/min. Nitrogen, hydrogen, and helium are typical carrier gases. These are controlled with mass flow controllers and the pressure is continuously monitored with a capacitive manometer. Materials selection and device testing are also discussed.

This is certainly the simplest Tesla Coil that can ever work. It is so simple that it can be made by anyone who has the most basic knowledge in the field of electrical engineering. And most importantly, the cost of the parts needed to make it is minimal. This Project was sponsored by NextPCB. You can help support me by checking them out at one of these links: Only $7 for SMT Order: https://www.nextpcb.com/?code=Mirko Reliable Multilayer Boards Manufacturer: https://www.nextpcb.com PCB Boards 10pcs for Free: https://www.nextpcb.com/pcb-quote?act=1&code=Mirko 20% off - PCB Orders: https://www.nextpcb.com/pcb-quote&code=Mirko It is also made exclusively of passive components, which makes it virtually indestructible. And finally the results are fantastic. We get a spark with a length of up to ten centimeters, which is difficult to achieve with much more complex designs. I will forget to say that the device is powered directly from AC line 220V and there is no need to use expensive and oversized transformers. As can be seen from the diagram, the transformer is composed of only a few components: - Fluorescent lamp ballast 1 or 2 pcs. Instead of a ballast that is difficult to obtain nowadays, an incandescent lamp with a power of 200 or 300 watts can be used. - Electromagnetic relay designed to operate at 220 volts. In this case I use a modified old doorbell. - Capacitor 27nF MKP type with voltage of 400 volts or more (the exact value is determined experimentally depending on the windings of the transformer) - Fuse 0.5A - And of course primary and secondary winding. In my case the primary winding contains 5 windings of copper wire with a diameter of 2.5 mm on a body with a diameter of 8 cm, and the secondary 1000 winding copper insulated wire with a diameter of 0.2 mm wound on a plastic body with a diameter of 5 cm. You can see a more detailed description of the work as well as the results obtained on this incredibly simple Tesla Coil in the video. The power consumption of the device measured with my wattmeter is about 30-35 watts. And a very important note: The device is powered directly on 220V so you must adhere to all safety rules. On the links below you can download all three shematics: 1.Dorbell+ballast 2.Dorbell+incadescent lamps 3.Relay(220V AC)+ballast 1. https://snipboard.io/I1vzqb.jpg 2. https://snipboard.io/aKX2g8.jpg 3. https://snipboard.io/nz3Ymx.jpg If you are interested in this area, look at the Playlist with all my High Voltage projects at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAxrqEdgtyUV5SriPejNitf6dWFyW8zPQ Visit my Youtube Channel for more Projects , DIY and How To Make videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/MirkoPavleskiMK/videos by mircemk SUBSCRIBE LIKE AND SHARE !!!! Thanks for your Support ! Song: Jarico - Landscape (Vlog No Copyright Music) Music promoted by Vlog No Copyright Music. Video Link: https://youtu.be/EwRdKJURDHw #NoCopyrightMusic #VlogMusic #VlogNoCopyrightMusic

An application that would allow someone to order electronic products From the David Povilus Collection of Trade Catalogs, in the Published Collections Department, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, DE 19807.

1King Coal

By Upton Sinclair

King Coal is a book by Upton Sinclair, first published in 1917, that exposes the dirty working conditions in the coal mining industry in the western United States during the 1910s. As in an earlier work, The Jungle, Sinclair expresses his socialist viewpoints from the perspective of a single protagonist, Hal Warner, caught up in the schemes and plots of the oppressive American capitalist system. The book itself is based on the 1914-1915 Colorado coal strikes. (Summary by Wikipedia)<br /></br><i>Reader's note: In Book 4, there is no chapter numbered Section 16 in the public domain Gutenberg e-text. However, no actual text from the book appears to be missing.</i>

2Jungle

By Upton Sinclair

It is the end of the 19th century. Like thousands of others, the Rudkus family has emigrated from Lithuania to America in search of a better life. As they settle into the Packingtown neighborhood of Chicago, they find their dreams are unlikely to be realized. In fact, just the opposite is quite likely to occur. Jurgis, the main character of the novel, has brought his father Antanas, his fiancée Ona, her stepmother Teta Elzbieta, Teta Elzbieta's brother Jonas and her six children, and Ona's cousin Marija Berczynskas along. The family, naïve to the ways of Chicago, quickly falls prey to con men and makes a series of bad decisions that lead them into wretched poverty and terrible living conditions. All are forced to find jobs in dismal working conditions for their very survival. Jurgis, broken and discouraged, eventually finds solace in the American Socialist movement. <br><br>This novel was written during a period in American history when “Trusts” were formed by multiple corporations to establish monopolies that stifled competition and fixed prices. Unthinkable working conditions and unfair business practices were the norm. The Jungle’s author, Upton Sinclair, was an ardent Socialist of the time. Sinclair was commissioned by the “Appeal To Reason”, a Socialist journal of the period, to write a fictional expose on the working conditions of the immigrant laborers in the meat packing industry in Chicago. Going undercover, Sinclair spent seven weeks inside the meatpacking plants gathering details for his novel. <br><br>The Reader wishes to gratefully acknowledge the assistance, and patience, of Professor Giedrius Subacius (University of Illinois) and the folks at <a href="http://www.lituanus.org">Lituanus</a> for their invaluable support as I struggled with Lithuanian pronunciations. Truly, this audio book would have been far more difficult, and far less authentic, without their help. <br><br>And now, feel free to wander into The Jungle……. (Summary by Tom Weiss)

3Moneychangers

By Upton Sinclair

A story of white collar crime and intrigue told from the point of view of Montague, a member of the privileged class of New York. Montague witnesses the manipulation and upset of the stock market by high financier Dan Waterman who is motivated by revenge. Waterman's character is loosely based on J.P. Morgan. (Summary by Margaret)

4Hidden Places

By Bertrand W. Sinclair

Hollister, returning home from the war physically scarred but otherwise healthy and intact, finds life difficult among society, and so chooses to roam about a bit seeking a future for himself. He eventually leads himself to a remote area in British Columbia, which begins the tale of the next phase of his life; a life which becomes far richer in totality than he would have imagined in his old unwelcoming haunts. A life among the hidden places. (Summary by Roger Melin)

5Prisoner of Morro

By Upton Sinclair

Upton Sinclair, born in 1878 was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American author. He wrote over 90 books in many genres. Best known for his muckraking novel, <a href="http://librivox.org/the-jungle-by-upton-sinclair/">The Jungle</a href>, Sinclair also wrote adventure fiction. Many of these works were written under the pseudonym, Ensign Clark Fitch, U.S.N. A Prisoner of Morrow, published in 1898 when Sinclair was but 20 years old, is one of these efforts. The period for this work is the ten-week Spanish–American War which occurred in 1898. Revolts against Spanish rule had been prevalent for decades in Cuba and were closely watched by Americans. The main issue of the war was Cuban independence from Spain. The war was notable for a series of one-sided American naval and military victories and led to the downfall of Spain as a colonial power. Clif Faraday, a naval cadet, is the main character in this novel. Stationed on a gunboat off the Cuban island as part of the U. S. naval blockade, Clif survives a series of confrontations at sea and treacheries on land. He is captured while on the island during a mission and lands in a Cuban prison called Morro, renowned for its cruelty. Clif receives aid from an unlikely source when all seems lost and survives to show commendable leadership and canny judgment. If you are looking for social commentary from Sinclair, this is not the book. If you want an entertaining listen reminiscent of “old-time” radio weekly serials where the hero faces dire consequences at the end of the each week’s program, then you should enjoy this story. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia and modified by the Reader)

6Profits of Religion

By Upton Sinclair

"The Profits of Religion: An Essay in Economic Interpretation" is a non-fiction book, first published in 1917, by the American novelist and muckraking journalist Upton Sinclair. It is a snapshot of the religious movements in the U.S. before its entry into World War I. In this book, Sinclair attacks institutionalized religion as a "source of income to parasites, and the natural ally of every form of oppression and exploitation." (Summary from Wikipedia)

7Machine

By Upton Sinclair

Upton Sinclair is best known for his novel The Jungle, an expose of the meatpacking industry. He was also a playwright whose works for the stage reflected the same progressive viewpoints found in his other writing. In The Machine, published as part of Sinclair's 1912 collection Plays of Protest, Socialist activists show a rich man's daughter the truth about the society in which she has been raised. (Summary by wildemoose)<br><br> <strong>Cast:</strong><br>Julia Patterson, a magazine writer: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/1259">Elizabeth Klett</a><br>Jack Bullen, a parlor Socialist: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/5659">Dale Burgess</a><br>Laura Hegan, Hegan's daughter: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/3536">Arielle Lipshaw</a><br>Allan Montague, a lawyer: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/3657">Bellona Times</a><br>Jim Hegan, the traction king: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/6754">ToddHW</a><br>Annie Roberts, a girl of the slums: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/3615">Lucy Perry</a><br>Robert Grimes, the boss: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/4547">John Steigerwald</a><br>Andrews, Hegan's secretary: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/6333">Max Körlinge</a><br>Parker, a clerk: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/6035">Marty Kris</a><br>Narrator: <a href="http://librivox.org/reader/5796">Linette Geisel</a><br><br><strong>Audio edited by:</strong> Arielle Lipshaw<br>

8Book of Life

By Upton Sinclair

Faith and reason, love and virtue, morality and mortality! In these two short volumes the famous novelist, essayist, and playwright, Upton Sinclair, confided his most prized worldly wisdom for generations to come. His kind and witty personal advice both provokes and enlightens page by page. (Summary by Rom Maczka)

9They Call Me Carpenter

By Upton Sinclair

The story takes place in the fictional city of Western City circa 1920. It begins with a man named Billy who is attacked by a mob of ex-servicemen outside a theater after watching a German film. Billy stumbles into a church to escape the mob and is visited by Carpenter, that is Jesus, who walks out of the stained glass window of the church. Carpenter is shocked and appalled by his observations of greed, selfishness, lust, sorrow, and the ultimate division between rich and poor. The story then roughly follows the ministry of Jesus. (Summary from Wikipedia and modified by the Reader)

10Land of Frozen Suns

By Bertrand W. Sinclair

Bertrand W. Sinclair was known for his novels which centered in and around the rugged and frozen terrain of Montana and later, British Columbia. The Land of Frozen Suns is primarily an action and adventure novel which takes place near the northern most reaches of British Columbia at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.<br /><br /> Bob Sumner, after having been shanghaied onto a boat heading north up the Mississippi from his comfortable home town of St. Louis, is put to work on the "New Moon" and finds himself in the much less comfortable territory mentioned earlier, where he is forced to learn all about treachery, double-crossing, and finds his trust in fellow man questioned more often than he was accustomed to. At the same time, he finds himself needing to learn how to survive in an environment which seemed the antithesis to his old style of life. (Summary by Roger Melin)

11Samuel the Seeker

By Upton Sinclair

What would happen to you if you tried to make your way in the world believing all the clear, simple things you had ever been taught growing up? Here we have one response to that question, a commentary by the great novelist, journalist and political activist Upton Sinclair, on what we are to encounter as we make our way in this world we live in. It is set against the backdrop of its time (about a hundred years ago) and place (a capitalist microcosm called "Lockmanville" in upstate New York) and the viewpoint of its author. Young Samuel Prescott, having been robbed penniless, encounters the expected cast of characters, from the fiendish and jaded Capitalists to the sainted Socialists, with the righteous religious and the purchased politicians and police along the way, all perched upon the backs and shoulders of the poor and the powerless. But we can all find ourselves in here somewhere, and seek for the truth and the way forward. (Summary by D Pranitis)

12100%: The Story of a Patriot

By Upton Sinclair

"100%: The Story of a Patriot" dramatically recounts the adventures of a poor uneducated young man who lives by his wits and guile, as he becomes politicized during his involvement in the sometimes violent struggle between American “patriots” and “Reds”. The author wrote in the Appendix, which is not included in this recording: "Everything that has social significance is truth.... Practically all the characters in "100%" are real persons." This exciting, polemical novel was published in 1920. Sinclair (1878-1968) wrote nearly 100 novels, many based on industrial abuse. One of his best known, "The Jungle", was influential in initiating the regulation of food safety in the United States. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1943. (Lee Smalley)

13Audrey Craven

By May Sinclair

In May Sinclair’s remarkable first novel, Audrey Craven is a beautiful young woman who has by her idiosyncrasies acquired a thoroughly undeserved reputation for originality. In fact, Audrey is a shallow, selfish, malleable person of negligible intelligence, with a fastidious horror of anyone who might be considered a nobody. Her pursuit of the stimulation of extraordinary minds (and her persistent fantasy of being somebody’s Muse) brings her into contact with serious women and men representing the profoundest passions of art, religion, science, and love. The question is, will these encounters prove to be her salvation, or will her vindictive self-centeredness damage the ardent lives she touches? (Expatriate)

14Three Sisters

By May Sinclair

Fascinated as she was by the lives of the Brontë siblings, May Sinclair loosely based her subtly sensual, quietly insurrectionary 1914 novel The Three Sisters on the Haworth moor milieu of the three literary Brontë sisters. Alice, Gwenda, and Mary Cartaret are the daughters of the Vicar of Garth, an abusive father with rigid, selfish expectations for female behavior. Hope of rescue seems to dawn in the person of an idealistic young doctor in the village, but this is no Austen romance. Described with Edwardian restraint, it is still sexual passion that is the underlying theme of the story: the rebellion of human sensuality in almost every major character in the story against the artificial constraints of conventional Society and Religion. Sinclair, herself a fascinating hybrid of Victorian and modern, shows the desperate, inertial ennui inherent in the lives of unmarried late-Victorian women dependent on their male guardians but fired by dreams and desires of their own. Sinclair's gently seditious fiction is always deeply imbued with philosophy as well as human psychology, giving it rich layers of interest. - Summary by Expatriate

15Life and Death of Harriett Frean

By May Sinclair

Harriett Frean is a well-to-do, unmarried woman living a life of meaningless dependency, boredom, and unproductivity as she patiently cares for her aging parents, waiting for a man to marry. When her opportunity for Love finally comes, she is offered a moral dilemma: the man is engaged to her best friend. Should she sacrifice what, according to the priorities of the time, seems like her "one chance for happiness," or should she seize the moment? Can she make something meaningful of her life without significant others? May Sinclair, as always gently ironic in tone, succeeds in skewering the conventions of her society while laying bare the hopeless realities for so many women of the era who were given so few chances really to live. ( summary by Expatriate)

16Journal of Impressions in Belgium

By May Sinclair

In 1914, at the age of 51, the novelist and poet May Sinclair volunteered to leave the comforts of England to go to the Western Front, joining the Munro Ambulance Corps ministering to wounded Belgian soldiers in Flanders. Her experiences in the Great War, brief and traumatizing as they were, permeated the prose and poetry she wrote after this time. Witness of great human pain and tragedy, Sinclair was in serious danger of her life on multiple occasions. This journal makes no attempt to be anything more than a journal: a lucid, simple, heart-breaking account of war at first hand. - Summary by Expatriate

17Romantic

By May Sinclair

As a simple story told, "The Romantic" is one of Sinclair’s tightest and most compelling. Charlotte Redhead, a young British secretary, finds herself in a degrading extra-marital affair with her boss. In reaction, she renounces Sex and links herself platonically to a handsome young Bohemian (John Conway) she meets by chance, tramping in the fields. Together, under a powerful romantic excitement, the two rush off to Belgium in the early weeks of World War I, having organized their own little volunteer ambulance corps. The romance of the adventure begins to break down when the various ambulance corps start to back-stab each other, each selfishly seeking to one-up the others for glory. The real crisis comes when the central characters begin to reveal the true human characters behind their romantic delusions, in the end turning the attention back to the genuine human suffering that was the real story of the hideous Great War. An indictment of the author’s own thrill-seeking past, as revealed in her "Journal of Impressions in Belgium," and showing some of the concerns of the so-called Lost Generation that included Hemingway and Dos Passos and Woolf, "The Romantic" weaves together a number of fascinating themes, re-interpreting with Sinclair’s inimitable frankness post-war attitudes about sex, war, patriotism, and even the new psychology. (Summary by Expatriate)

18Tysons

By May Sinclair

Another frank May Sinclair exploration of fin de siècle English love and sex, marriage and adultery, "The Tysons" is the story of the caddish Nevill Tyson and his beautiful but frivolous young wife Molly. Sinclair uses a different narrative voice than we hear in much of her fiction, a sort of witty Jane Austen archness as she dissects the characters of the provincial village Drayton Parva. As always, she demonstrates an intriguing mixture of Victorian prudishness and modern free-thinking, particularly in her rendering of the sexual escapades of her characters. The step-by-step fragmentation of the Tyson marriage seems predestined from the start, but the novel reveals, as Sinclair's novels always do, a passion for profound understanding of the human comedy and why we do what we do. Even though the story is told from the perspectives of mostly masculine characters, Sinclair uses their voices to shine a stark light on the many ways in which women were victimized at the time by being the chattel of the men in their lives, in particular the denigration of the female intellect in favor of the merely decorative feminine beauty which existed only for the male ego. - Summary by Expatriate

The philosophy of Idealism, revived in eighteenth-century Europe by George Berkeley, argued against philosophical materialism by maintaining that Reality is a creation of the Mind. Despite its flourishing under the leadership of Hegel, Fichte, Schopenhauer, and Schelling, Idealism had definitely fallen into decline late in the nineteenth century and early in the twentieth. May Sinclair, the writer of many popular but philosophically provocative novels and part-time World War I ambulance corps-person, was an unlikely one to take up the torch of the old school and try to revive it yet again for the twentieth century. Most notably, in this treatise she tried to formulate a union of Idealistic Monism with the New Realism as epitomized by Bertrand Russell and his mathematics-based philosophy. How successful she was is a matter for the reader to judge, but this volume and its sequel (The New Idealism) provide fascinating insights into the mind of Sinclair herself, helping the twenty-first century reader better to understand this highly significant author as she wrote in the very midst of the Great War. - Summary by Expatriate

20Naturewoman

By Upton Sinclair

The Mastersons, a wealthy Bostonian family, await the arrival of their cousin Anna in the wake of her grandfather's death. Though born in Boston, Anna, who prefers the name Oceana, spent most of her life on a tropical island in the Pacific with her father. A free spirit, her practices and values surrounding proper dress, romance, and entertainment clash with those of her conservative relatives. What will happen as patience and tolerance wear thin for both parties when alluring Oceana catches the eye of a married man?<br><br>Upton Sinclair, though best known for his novel The Jungle, an expose of the meatpacking industry, was also a playwright whose works for the stage reflect the same progressive viewpoints found in his other writing. Published as part of the collection Plays of Protest in 1912, this play was heavily influenced by the character of "Nature Man," an American hippie in Tahiti, from Jack London's book The Cruise of the Snark. This production is dedicated to <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/26">Denny Sayers</a>. (Mary Kay) <br><br><b>Cast List:</b><br>Oceana Talbot: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/1259">Elizabeth Klett</a><br>Mrs. Sophronia Masterson: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/9392">CJ Plog</a><br>Quincy Masterson, M.D: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/6754">ToddHW</a><br>Freddy Masterson: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/9647">Joseph Tabler</a><br>Ethel Masterson: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/9001">Mary Kay</a><br>Mrs. Letitia Selden: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/9921">April Walters</a><br>Henry Selden: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/8425">Larry Wilson</a><br>Remson: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/6065">David Olson</a><br><br>Narrated by <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/26?">Denny Sayers</a><br><br>Editor: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/9001">Mary Kay</a><br>Prooflisteners: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/9937">baileyspring</a> and <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/7510">Kathrine Engan</a>

Here are two gemlike novellas in one volume, written in May Sinclair’s clearest and cleverest prose and exploring the many ways in which a woman can be held captive, held back from the “intoxication of freedom.” In “The Cosmopolitan,” Frida Tancred is a wealthy heiress trapped by family obligation in a dismal provincial estate, hopelessly longing to see all the glories of the world and with no way of escape but the conventional one of marriage. In “Superseded,” spinsterish Miss Juliana Quincey has been teaching arithmetic in a London girls’ school for twenty-five years when she suddenly falls in love with a much younger man and begins to question the assumptions of her life. So dramatically different in terms of characters, plot, and style, both novellas are united in a passionate quest of freedom and a like determination on the part of two very different women to achieve freedom on their own terms. The “Question” of which Sinclair is demonstrating the “Two Sides” seems to be this: Does a woman need a man in her life in order to define herself? In coming to her conclusions, Sinclair explores many layers of human life: art, philosophy, education, science, social class, religion. The marvel is that she is able to do all this in two such small, luminous novels. ( Expatriate)

22Anne Severn and the Fieldings

By May Sinclair

Written in an era of cheap, formulaic romantic fiction, the nuanced, seditious, quietly erotic novels of May Sinclair stand out like literature from another era entirely. There is romance in “Anne Severn & the Fieldings,” but it’s romance of the best and profoundest kind, set in the context of authentic human personalities and tragic historical events. The motherless Anne Severn is adopted into the Fielding family and grows up in intimate friendship with the three Fielding sons, all of whom love her. World War I explodes into their lives with hideous effect, sending all three sons back damaged in one way or another. Anne herself sees the horrors of war as an ambulance driver, meeting along the way (in a whimsical little self-referential sentence) a “queer little middle-aged lady out for a job at the front” whom we recognize as May Sinclair herself, who volunteered for just such an adventure in 1914. Sinclair always was half-Victorian, half-modern, so it is no surprise to find her using subtle, lovely, dreamlike, decorous prose to undermine social conventions on all sides. Most startling, perhaps, is the unambiguous sexuality that complicates the lives of her characters, troubling marriages and consummating true love. She creates personalities about whom we care much more than we care about proprieties and social boundaries, and Anne Severn stands as one of Sinclair’s most courageous and compelling heroines. - Summary by Expatriate

23Mr. Waddington of Wyck

By May Sinclair

May Sinclair’s 1921 novel tells the story of the ridiculous Mr. Horatio Bysshe Waddington, a pompous, self-deluded poser making his way through life caring only for the impressions he makes on others. His long-suffering wife Fanny, his secretary Barbara, and the young scapegrace Ralph watch his daily performances with delighted, affectionate fascination as if they are spectators watching a play or scientists observing a new species, wondering every day how far he will go to fulfill his outrageous pretensions. As usual, Sinclair’s light, deceptively innocent prose camouflages a tale of sexual passions and human foibles with philosophical implications about her post-war world. (Summary by Expatriate)

Ranny Ransome is an idealistic young man, devoted to exuberant gymnastic exercises and to fighting “flabbiness” in his own life, body and soul. He loves the girlish and athletic Winny Dymond, and particularly loves participating with her in the Combined Maze, a choreographed, intricate, exhilarating group gymnastic ritual in which the young men and women of the Polytechnic Gymnasium demonstrate their skills. Unfortunately, Ranny falls under the spell of the seductive Violet, a sexual free spirit who wants nothing more than to live an untrammeled life on her own terms. When, to her astonishment and horror, Violet becomes pregnant, Ranny dutifully marries her against her will, entangling himself and her in a deadly new Combined Maze of social conventions intended to suppress and subdue the elemental passions that give color to Life. May Sinclair draws her readers in with a quiet, unobtrusive, Victorian prose that seems completely in tune with the conventional proprieties of her society, but goes on in the same seditious, unassuming tone to tell stories of sensuality, adultery, seduction, divorce, and betrayal, quietly protesting the smothering conventions of a society that feared passion in all its forms. Ranny’s mesmerizing struggle to maintain his fundamental decency while remaining true to his real love hangs in the balance to the last page. (summary by Expatriate)

In this May Sinclair wartime masterpiece, dashing newsman Walter Furnival is an absurdly good catch: handsome, successful, athletic, intelligent, an upstanding epitome of manhood and rectitude. Tasker Jevons is a puny, preposterous, impossible-looking, bombastic sports writer, without one single redeeming social grace. Imagine the jealous mortification of Furny when his enchanting young typist and love interest Viola Thesiger chooses the clownish Jevons as a lover, seeing in him a remarkable inner beauty not evident to anyone but her and (as he grudgingly but magnanimously admits) the long-suffering and devoted Furnival. But despite the title, the central character of this extraordinary novel is not the redoubtable Jevons but the rebellious feminist Viola, determined against all odds not only to revolt against every enslaving conformity of her upbringing, but also to burn all her boats behind her, ruthlessly leaving herself no possibility of a return to the soporific decorum of her cloistered family and past. This extraordinary menage, however, is broken apart by the irruption of the Great War into their lives. (Expatriate)

Jane Holland is a genius, the greatest of a group of extraordinary literary friends. She has an intense artistic and intellectual kinship with George Tanqueray, another remarkable novelist. Despite this keen spiritual relationship, both Holland and Tanqueray allow themselves to fall against their wills into more conventional romantic commitments, leading to agonizing crises of heart and mind and art. Another of May Sinclair’s marvelous philosophical novels, this masterpiece explores the great dilemmas of artistic Genius and the obstacles posed to it by Love, by philistine society, by the two-faced allure of popularity, by human jealousy, by the conventions of marriage and family. More deeply, Sinclair here lays bare the excruciating choices required particularly of a woman genius, and the double standards applied to her in a society that allowed so much indulgence to a man considered to have such artistic gifts. Demonic or angelic, curse or blessing, affliction or joy, the involuntary gifting of Genius sets any human being apart from the uncomprehending and judgmental society in which she must live, a condition delineated in “The Creators” with delicate subtlety and fierce passion. ( Expatriate)

27Flaw in the Crystal

By May Sinclair

One of May Sinclair’s “uncanny” stories, this novella explores many of Sinclair’s most treasured themes: the bounds of marriage, the conflict between flesh and spirit, the complexity of human emotions in relation to other humans, the practical everyday implications of philosophical Idealism. In the story, when Agatha Verrall enters into an extra-marital affair with Rodney Lanyon, she struggles to keep the relationship on a spiritual plane without falling into the physical passion that she fears. To her astonishment, she discovers that she has an extraordinary paranormal ability to manipulate the psyches and even the physical states of the people around her. At first, she uses it in a way that seems harmless to her, coaxing the oblivious Rodney to visit her whenever she wants him. Before long, she learns that her powers have tremendous potential for good, for healing psychological disorders untouched by ordinary medicine. But the exercise of her Power leads to terrifying dangers for herself and her beneficiaries, proving that it might be beyond her ability to harness without vast harm. ( summary by Expatriate)

The genius of May Sinclair lies in her brilliant bridging of the Victorian and the modern eras, in her determination never to become ossified in an outdated way of thought or of Art. Though a generation older than the famous literati of the postwar era, she clearly perceived what was worth saving of the old and what was worth embracing of the new. This is clear, of course, in her remarkable fiction, particularly in the astonishing “Life and Death of Harriet Frean,” “Mary Olivier,” and “Tree of Heaven,” in which she broke new ground in psychological and stream-of-consciousness fiction. It is also true, however, in her crystal-clear philosophical works, “In Defense of Idealism” and “The New Idealism.” Though philosophical Idealism had become passé to many in the new era of scientific and mathematical Realism, Sinclair saw an opportunity to transmute her beloved, hard-won philosophy into a new kind of Idealism, one which absorbed the valuable insights of realists such as Einstein, Samuel Alexander, Alfred North Whitehead, and Bertrand Russell rather than rejecting them, producing a keen-eyed new view of transcendence and mystical meaning in the Universe. ( Expatriate)

29Metropolis

By Upton Sinclair

In this 1907 novel about the extravagant life of New York City’s high society, the author of The Jungle, presents a portrait of the wealthy elite. Allan Montague, a lawyer of thirty, moves to New York City from Mississippi, along with his mother and cousin Alice, to join his younger brother Oliver, who had moved to the city few years before. Allan discover that Oliver has become a member of a fast-paced social circuit comprising some of the most powerful members of the business class. Oliver introduces Allan to this exclusive group hoping that it will help Allan’s business. Sinclair describes the party life of the very rich, who spend vast sums of money on entertainment and new toys. Expensive cars, private trains, dinners attended by liveried servants, clothing costing thousands of dollars are described with attention to the enormous cost of it all. The author describing the alcoholism, marital affairs, malicious gossip, backstabbing, and shallow values of the wealthy of this Society. (Summary by Richard Kilmer)

30Holiday House

By Catherine Sinclair

Extremely popular when it was published, this book was one of the first to include fairy tales which were not only didactic but also enjoyable and entertaining. But beware! These are not only fairy tales! They have lessons to teach and can be viewed as a historical document telling us very vividly about the time they were written. - Summary by Stav Nisser

31Tree of Heaven

By May Sinclair

One of the most heart-breaking of all World War I novels, this family epic was written in the midst of the War itself, and shows the intense emotion generated in ordinary lives by that tragedy. May Sinclair astonishingly weaves multiple themes into her narrative, seamlessly drawing from the great movements of her day: suffrage, sexual liberation, artistic revolt, war, and pacifism. Her most powerful metaphor throughout the novel is that of the Vortex: the dangerously irresistible force of human masses, how to resist it and (much more difficult) how to participate in it without losing one’s individual autonomy. - Summary by Expatriate

32Uncanny Stories

By May Sinclair

May Sinclair’s <i>Uncanny Stories</i> is a collection of short stories filled with macabre, romantic, and Gothic themes. Enjoy tales of love and loss, murder, philosophy, and supernatural happenings. Summary by RhiannonD.

This work describes conditions and forces the black population of the South faced after freedom was brought by the Civil War. As Sinclair puts it at the outset of his book, ". . . the chief efforts of Southern leadership have been to curtail the freedom of the colored people, to minimize their liberty and reduce them as nearly as possible to the condition of chattel slaves." - Summary by Jim Locke

34Immortal Moment

By May Sinclair

This is one of the later works of May Sinclair – a prolific author, literary critic, and feminist activist – famous in Britain and the US after the 1904 publication of The Divine Fire. The Immortal Moment concerns the defining episode in the life of Kitty Tailleur, a beautiful and enormously charming but “fallen” woman, who yearns to become respectable. As ever, Sinclair uses irony and understatement to expose the hypocrisy of the social order by revealing the tragic social reality of women’s powerlessness within it.<br><br> While on holiday at a small seaside hotel Kitty attracts the love of a truly good man. Though good to the core, Robert Lucy, a widower with two young daughters, is emotionally undeveloped and naïve. Kitty’s own maturity has been stultified by her circumscribed life as a mistress in the demi-monde. Yet their love is deep and passionate. They plan to marry, which Kitty hopes will liberate her from a life of sexual servitude and degradation. The story unfolds a series of potential threats to the consummation of their happiness, leaving the outcome uncertain to the last. Will Kitty fall victim to the gossip and hints of various guests at the hotel, who, less naïve than Robert, suspect her dubious past? Will her most recent lover betray her? How will the still dominant, still extreme Victorian prudery of the day influence the course of events? Can Kitty disregard the potential effect on Robert’s little girls, should her secret become known after she has become their second mother? Or will love conquer all (or most)?<br><br> Several well-drawn secondary characters influence the course of events. These include Kitty’s clinging but deeply repressed and everlastingly oppressed chaperone; Robert’s imaginative, loving, almost saintly sister; and the influential and urbane man who, until recently, has “kept” Kitty. - Summary by Kirsten Wever

35Judgment of Eve

By May Sinclair

May Sinclair was a prolific author, literary critic, and feminist activist, famous in Britain and the US in the 1910’s and 20’s. The Judgment of Eve, like most of her novels, uses irony and understatement to expose the hypocrisy of the social order by revealing the tragic social reality of women’s powerlessness within it.<br><br> Aggie is by far the best looking, and the best educated young woman in her small, isolated village of Queningford. Should she marry the strong, confident, and successful –- but not intellectual -- farmer, John? Or would her life be happier with the relatively poor, but sensitive, poetic and intellectual lawyer’s clerk, Arthur? She chooses Arthur, and their life in London, though impoverished, begins in a whirlwind of lectures, debates and museums. Both are thrilled by the birth of their first child, though his arrival puts an end, temporarily, to their cultural activities. Ever desirous of fulfilling her husband’s wishes, Aggie bears another child every year, for 6 years. The story exposes the very different ways in which Aggie and Arthur experience and manage the crowding out of their early intellectual dreams by the increasingly grim realities – the poverty, illness and estrangement – imposed by the life they have chosen to create. - Summary by Kirsten Wever

The two main characters of “Oil” are James Arnold Ross, called “Dad”, and his son James Jr., called “Bunny”. The book is loosely based on a real character (Edward L. Doheny) and some real events and locations, mostly in Southern California. The period was World War 1, and the events were not unlike those of the Teapot Dome Oil Scandal during the Harding administration. Like many of Sinclair’s novels, themes concern social conflicts and injustices, labor vs. management, democracy vs. socialism, and morality vs. immorality. In this story, Bunny’s father is a very successful oil entrepreneur, and ultimately a millionaire. There is great love between Bunny and his father, but over time, Bunny begins to question his father’s ethics. Bunny is a seeker for truth, throughout the story, as he grows through several decades—as a youth, as a soldier, as a college student, and as a wealthy oil producer. Religion plays a big role in the story, as one of the characters becomes a charismatic evangelist preaching a new faith, “the third revelation.” The film “There Will Be Blood” bases much of its story on this book. - Summary by Bob Rollins

37100%: The Story of a Patriot (Version 2)

By Upton Sinclair

"100%: The Story of a Patriot" dramatically recounts the adventures of a poor uneducated young man who lives by his wits and guile, as he becomes politicized during his involvement in the sometimes violent struggle between American “patriots” and “Reds”. The author wrote in the Appendix, which is not included in this recording: "Everything that has social significance is truth.... Practically all the characters in "100%" are real persons." This exciting, polemical novel was published in 1920. - Summary by Lee Smalley