Upton Sinclair

Upton Sinclair Jr. (September 20, 1878 – November 25, 1968) was an American writer who wrote nearly 100 books and other works in several genres.

In 1906, Sinclair acquired particular fame for his classic muckraking novel The Jungle, which exposed labor and sanitary 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.

"I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach."
 * Hero with Bad Publicity: Even though no less than Theodore Roosevelt took him seriously on reforming the meatpacking industry, his socialist leanings made him out to be scorned by most of the public, and even Roosevelt confessed outside of the muckraking work, he considered Sinclair a crackpot.
 * Misaimed Fandom: Bemoaned being the recipient of one when The Jungle was widely read not because of it's socialist advocacy, but because of the horrifying work conditions of meat packing plants, particularly the filth that wound up in the finished products. As he put it: