Author Dickstein would have better served his readers if he had given his work the subtitle it really deserves: American literature in the 50s and 60s. The book is given over almost entirely to literary criticism beginning with Ginsberg and working its way through 50s Jewish literature, the new journalism, African-American authors, and postmodernism (Barth, Pynchon, Barthelme, etc..).

This was not what I was expecting going into the book and so at first I was rather disappointed as it seemed that it would be a rather high-brow academic look at the era it deals with. But I was won over by Dickstein's deft handling and insight into the literature of the time. As the book progressed there were random glimpses of an unorthodox approach to criticism which I enjoyed very much. Any lit critic who will say of a work, "This may be bullsh--, but it's significant bullsh--" wins my immediate respect.

So don't look to Gates of Eden for another rehash of Columbia, Vietnam, Chicago.... But if you want an original and entertaining analysis of how American literature influenced and was influenced by the turbulence of that era, you won't regret starting here.

This is an excellent and important book of well-written positions from a variety of perspectives. A fan of pragmatism may be turned off by the 2nd through the 6th essays, but of the following 25 at least 23 or 24 are well worth reading. The section on law debates the question of whether philosophy influences or "supports" law. I came away, as I'd been before, convinced that moving to pragmatism in philosophy is likely to have a good effect on legal opinions and that Rorty is absurdly unfair to the value of his own work by stressing that law can get on without traditional philosophy. Of course it can, but what needs to be said is that we would be better off if it did. The concluding essay by Stanley Fish is wonderful and makes a point I've been trying to find someone to agree with for years, namely that religious tolerance is a contradiction in terms; tolerance is a restriction on religion.

Excellent book for worlds fair fans. Lots of info and pictures, and does a good job of placing the fair in the context of its time. Note that the Queens Museum Gift Shop hs this book for sale for less than 68.00

This is one book I couldn't part with! I frequently used to check the only copy of this book around for miles from our library until the ecstatic day I found a copy I could actually buy and own. It was at the Queen's Museum of Art in New York on the actual site of both World's Fairs (1939 & 1964). This book is the absolute penultimate reference for that wonderful phenomenon that was the 1964 New York World's Fair. The articles and photos contained within relate the experience of the fair so effectively that I felt like it still exists. What a sensational book. Thank you for it!

Dissatisfied with her first job at the St. Paul Library, Carol Milford finds assurance in the solid (older) form of Dr. Will Kennicott. The newlyweds establish themselves in Dr. Kennicott's hometown of Gopher Prairie, Minnesota. Here Carol runs head-on into the obstacle of local society. Her struggle to find fulfillment in these small-town surroundings, fighting town gossip, promoting new ideas, grasping at illusions, is the story of Main Street. Lewis' brief foreword anticipates the "malling" of America, and the standardization of our experiences. As Carol becomes more stifled by her surroundings, her anger is palpable, and Lewis' modern sensibility shines through. As an example, in the middle of another banal dinner conversation, "Carol reflected that the carving-knife would make an excellent dagger with which to kill Uncle Whittier." As you read, you will be shocked at how true Lewis' Main Street of 1920 is to our Main Streets of today. Enormously successful on publication, Lewis' best novels (Main Street, Babbitt, Arrowsmith, Elmer Gantry) continue to illuminate this country's psyche. Enjoy a classic, and gain an appreciation of this under-read American master.

Sinclair Lewis's "Main Street" deals honestly with the negative aspects of small town life. In the book, Carol Kennicott, a big city girl marries Dr. Kennicott, and they move to the small town of Gopher Prarie. Carol is an idealist, but her efforts to reform the town are met with ignorance. The citizens of Gopher Prarie are convinced that they lead a utopian life, and that poverty and ugliness does not exist in their town. Carol is subjected to gossip, greed, and dullness in her journey through Gopher Prarie. I think this book is an accurate description of many small towns, but it deals too negatively with small towns. I have visited many times Lewis's hometown of Sauk Centre, after which Gopher Prarie was modeled, and found none of the drab buildings and narrow minded people that Lewis described. Howver, this novel is a classic example of how our own ignorance prevents us from seeing our true surrondings. This book is a real eye opener.

"Main Street" is simply an excellent novel that can be enjoyed at many levels. To some extent it can be seen as a historical account of life in small-town America in the early decades of the 20th century. Lewis does a commendable job of portraying the conservatism and prejudices of the rural town: their prejudices against immigrants and their mistrust of labor and farmers' collective movements, or anything that may lead to "socialism." Additionally, Lewis's fictional town of Gopher Prairie can also be seen as the prototype for any American small town, rural village or suburb and simultaneously a critique of rural and/or middle class society in America -- with its often narrow-minded attitudes and smug complacency -- which is still relevant today. "Main Street" is, however, first and foremost a work of literature, which tells the story of a young woman, Carol Kennicott, who has to come to grips with life in this small town, whether she likes it or not. Through Carol, Lewis shows how a small, enclosed community influences and molds even those who are intent on changing it, or at least resisting it. Carol thus becomes a poignant symbol of the compromises and rationalizations people are often forced to make in order to deal with the realities of a life that did not turn out as planned.

Yes, this book is relentlessly depressing and falls apart at the end. So why are my students reading it in our class "In Search of the American Dream"? Because Jurgis and Ona and their families could be any of us whose grandparents came over from Europe (though it's true that Sinclair lumped together the horrific experiences of many individuals and visited them upon one fictional family in this novel). Because Sinclair, who was proud to be a muckraker, witnessed an ocean of human degradation and suffering, not to mention appalling food prep conditions, in his time in the stockyards, and it was important to him that readers who thought themselves worlds away from "those immigrants in Packingtown" realized how closely their lives were connected. Because in America, despite our country's problems, including dismissive, privileged ignorance such as the previous reviewer's, we can tell the truth that we are free to speak, and when people actually listen, all kinds of change become possible. (Sinclair knew his ending didn't do justice to the rest of the work, by the way ... a consequence of trying to change a novel into a Socialist pamphlet at the last minute.) But in terms of historical influence as well as its contemporary relevance, The Jungle deserves our attention.

I am an attorney, and by coincidence I read this novel about a month before I was hired by a labor law firm, where I represent labor unions. In our current extremely politically conservative climate, I hear a lot of anti-Union sentiment. To all the people who regularly tell me that they do not see the need for labor unions in this day and age, I would recommend this book. This book shows what happened to unskilled workers in the days before collective bargaining or minimum wage laws. It's funny that what this book is remembered most for is the resulting food sanitation laws--when it was Sinclair's attempt to display what is wrong with laissez-faire economics. He succeeds tremendously.
No, this book's prose is not beautiful. But the story is gripping. It is the story of a family who has immigrated to Chicago from eastern Europe. They cannot speak the language and do not have job skills. The family members are forced into hard labor under horrific conditions, when they are lucky enough to get work. What little money they are able to earn, they are tricked out of by unscrupulous landlords and lawyers.
This novel is memorable for its message and resulting reforms, rather than for its prose or characters. However, it is a wonderful book that I know I will never forget.

Millions of immigrants from around the world came to the US between the years 1870 and 1920¡¯s with a promise of a better life, a taste of the ¡®American Dream¡¯. These immigrants had come to America, yearning to be free and comfortable but were soon forced into waged slavery and slums. Upton Sinclair, author of The Jungle, wanted to ¡°expose the social, political, and economic problems¡± that a typical immigrant family faces, ¡°¡¦how the other half lives,¡± Upton Sinclair exclaimed. In this novel, a family of nine, like the million others, came from their homeland to take a stab at prosperity in the states in vain.
For this reason, Sinclair wanted society to feel a little remorse for the hundreds of immigrants dying for the progress of this country. His style of writing is very powerful and is a very enduring read, evoking pity and sympathy into the readers¡¯ hearts. Sinclair¡¯s descriptive and sanguinary writing lets the reader take a peak into the factories, showing us what wasn't supposed to be seen. Upton Sinclair gave social economic change an initial push. After reading Sinclair¡¯s book, President Teddy Roosevelt issued the Pure Food Act and labors were given a sanitary work environment.
In contrary with our history books, Sinclair focused on only one, out of a million, family¡¯s struggle to exist in this merciless society. In history class I¡¯ve leaned about these immigrants¡¯ struggles, but when I read this book, I realized that textbooks only touched the surface of the strife and obstacles the limited immigrants went through. I do recommend this book because I have enjoyed it immensely myself.