{"title":"Books by Sinclair Lewis","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781847498960","title":"Main Street","description":"\u003cp\u003eYoung college graduate Carol Kennicott moves from a big city to Gopher Prairie, Minnesota, the small town from which her new husband hails. Imbued with ideals of urban improvement, she dreams of redesigning her adopted village, but her efforts are thwarted by the narrow-mindedness, pettiness and conventionality of the locals, who conspire against her and deride all her endeavours.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn enormous commercial and critical success on its first publication in 1920, Main Street – regarded by many as Sinclair Lewis’s best novel – delivers a scathing satire on the American dream, and is invaluable as a document of pre-Prohibition Middle America.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43071189516466,"sku":"9781847498960","price":7.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781847498960_6324e02c-0b7d-4c76-84bc-034a4ec0fbf3.jpg?v=1786029474"},{"product_id":"9781847499134","title":"Arrowsmith","description":"\u003cp\u003eMartin Arrowsmith, a young medical student at the University of Winnemac, is driven by a sincere passion and a desire to make a positive contribution to the world. But events get in the way, and a series of personal vicissitudes, love interests and societal pressures threaten to lead him away from the path of pure science – until he is forced, in the face of a humanitarian crisis, to decide between scientific rigour and compassion, between maintaining his medical principles and saving lives.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst published in 1925 to great critical acclaim, Arrowsmith is the third major novel by Sinclair Lewis, author of Main Street and Babbitt, and arguably his most ambitious work. Awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1926 – which the author famously declined – it contributed to Lewis's growing reputation as a master storyteller, social commentator and the unsurpassed satirist of his time.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44203573805234,"sku":"9781847499134","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781847499134_9e28f9bc-2fcf-4e81-ae90-5907f08d33f8.jpg?v=1786029494"},{"product_id":"9780099264712","title":"Babbitt","description":"\u003cp\u003eBY THE AUTHOR OF \u003ci\u003eIT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBusinessman George F. Babbitt loves the latest appliances, making money and the Republican party. In fact, he loves being a Solid Citizen even more than he loves his wife. But Babbitt comes to resent the middle class trappings he has worked so hard to acquire. Realising that his life is devoid of meaning, he grows determined to transcend his trivial existence and search for a greater purpose.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In the economic boom years of 1920s' America, Babbitt became a symbol of middle-class mediocrity, and his name an enduring part of the American lexicon.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56222820270453,"sku":"9780099264712","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780099264712_b8fef3db-6e99-40c0-a834-f4019f83b11f.jpg?v=1786011248"},{"product_id":"9780199567690","title":"Babbitt","description":"Amusing and tragic by turn, Sinclair Lewis's classic novel is a biting satire of middle-American values whose title has entered the language as a byword for smug complacency, conformity, and materialism, and whose suburban targets are still much in evidence. A successful real estate agent, George F. Babbitt is a member of all the right clubs, and unquestioningly shares the same aspirations and ideas as his friends and fellow Boosters. Yet even Babbitt dreams of romance and escape, and when his best friend does something to throw his world upside down, he rebels, and tries to find fulfillment in romantic adventures and liberal thinking. Hilarious and poignant, Babbitt turns the spotlight on middle America and strips bare the hypocrisy of business practice, social mores, politics, and religious institutions. In his introduction and notes Gordon Hutner explores the novel's historical and literary contexts, and highlights its rich cultural and social references. The book also features an up-to-date bibliography and explanatory notes that document and gloss the rich social history of the period.About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56227755229557,"sku":"9780199567690","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780199567690_f62a872f-6f49-48e2-9ec1-98b9efc8edbc.jpg?v=1786012267"},{"product_id":"9780241310663","title":"It Can't Happen Here","description":"'An eerily prescient foreshadowing of current affairs' \u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Not only Lewis's most important book but one of the most important books ever produced in the United States' \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003eA vain, outlandish, anti-immigrant, fearmongering demagogue runs for  President of the United States - and wins. Sinclair Lewis's chilling  1935 bestseller is the story of Buzz Windrip, 'Professional Common Man',  who promises poor, angry voters that he will make America proud and  prosperous once more, but takes the country down a far darker path. As  the new regime slides into authoritarianism, newspaper editor Doremus  Jessup can't believe it will last - but is he right? This cautionary  tale of liberal complacency in the face of populist tyranny shows it  really can happen here.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56228216406389,"sku":"9780241310663","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780241310663.jpg?v=1786012205"},{"product_id":"9780553214512","title":"Main Street","description":"The first of Sinclair Lewis’s great successes, \u003cb\u003eMain Street\u003c\/b\u003e shattered the sentimental American myth of happy small-town life with its satire of narrow-minded provincialism. Reflecting his own unhappy childhood in Sauk Centre, Minnesota, Lewis’s sixth novel attacked the conformity and dullness he saw in midwestern village life. Young college graduate Carol Milford moves from the city to tiny Gopher Prairie after marrying the local doctor, and tries to bring culture to the small town. But her efforts to reform the prairie village are met by a wall of gossip, greed, conventionality, pitifully unambitious cultural endeavors, and—worst of all—the pettiness and bigotry of small-town minds.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLewis’s portrayal of a marriage torn by disillusionment and a woman forced into compromises is at once devastating social satire and persuasive realism. His subtle characterizations and intimate details of small-town America make \u003cb\u003eMain Street\u003c\/b\u003e a complex and compelling work and established Lewis as an important figure in twentieth-century American literature.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56291437805941,"sku":"9780553214512","price":4.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780553214512_c6fc7513-a28d-41ee-9099-e2c322c0a4d4.jpg?v=1786016088"},{"product_id":"9781847498779","title":"Babbitt","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the   Midwestern city of Zenith, the middle-aged estate agent George F. Babbitt   appears to have achieved the American dream to its fullest: he is successful   at work, comfortably off, exceedingly well fed, has a wife and children, a   motor car and a neat house with a neat yard, and is a proud member of all the   right clubs – in short, he lacks nothing to be happy. Or does he? As we   follow his humdrum daily routine and startling events begin to unfold around   him, we discover that all is not well in Babbitt’s world: his moral   foundations are shaking, and he can’t help harbouring rebellious dreams of   escape and romance.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     A trenchant satire on consumeristic society and an indictment of the   fatuous ideals of middle America in the Roaring Twenties, Babbitt – the   crowning achievement of Sinclair Lewis, winner of the 1930 Nobel Prize in   Literature – questions the attractions of materialistic fulfilment, at the   same time laying bare the hollowness of social respectability and blind   conformism.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56307837600117,"sku":"9781847498779","price":7.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781847498779_03f23781-d023-4b93-b526-2c622a53d1d2.jpg?v=1786029456"},{"product_id":"9789357277891","title":"Babbitt?","description":"Sinclair Lewis' satirical book Babbitt, published in 1922, is about American culture and society and criticizes the superficiality of middle-class life and the temptation to fit in. Babbitt's disagreement had a big impact on the decision to give Lewis the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1930. The book has been adapted into two motion pictures: a silent version in 1924 and a talkie version in 1934. Babbitt's life is chronicled in the first seven chapters over the course of a single day. Babbitt coos over his ten-year-old daughter Tinka during breakfast, tries to talk his 22-year-old daughter Verona out of her recent socialist tendencies and exhorts his 17-year-old son Ted to work more in school. He dictates letters while at work and has conversations with his staff on real estate advertising. Babbitt hurries home and abandons all disobedience when his wife develops acute appendicitis. They reestablish their intimacy during her prolonged recovery, and Babbitt returns to his emotionless conformity. In the climactic scene, Babbitt learns that his son Ted secretly wed Eunice, his neighbor's daughter. Though he doesn't agree, he declares that he is in favor of the union and commends Ted for leading an independent life.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56310115336565,"sku":"9789357277891","price":17.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9789357277891_64d30260-696b-4ccc-88f3-f8c1fb331d46.jpg?v=1786031657"},{"product_id":"9781804470091","title":"It Can't Happen Here","description":"Published during the heyday of fascism in Europe, It Can't Happen Here is a chilling cautionary tale by one of the greatest American writers of the twentieth century, which is still startlingly relevant almost a century later.Charting the rise to power of Berzelius 'Buzz' Windrip, who whips his supporters into a frenzy while promising drastic reform under a banner of patriotism and traditional values, It Can't Happen Here decries the tactics used by politicians to mobilise voters, and exposes the danger of authoritarianism arising from populist platforms, and the chaos such regimes can leave in their wake.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56312974803317,"sku":"9781804470091","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781804470091_84707b11-1619-46cc-95c9-f0e218d849c1.jpg?v=1786026843"},{"product_id":"our-mr-wrennthe-romantic-adventures-of-a-gentle-man-edition2024","title":"Our Mr. Wrenn The Romantic Adventures of a Gentle Man","description":"\"Our Mr. Wrenn: The Romantic Adventures of a Gentle Man\" by Sinclair Lewis follows the life of Mr. Wrenn, a mild-mannered and unassuming gentleman who embarks on a series of romantic adventures that lead to significant personal growth and self-discovery. The novel serves as a character study that delves into Mr. Wrenn's journey from a simple, conformist life to one filled with romanticism and individualism. Set against the backdrop of urban life and American society, the story provides a sharp social satire of the societal expectations and norms of the early 20th century. Through Mr. Wrenn's experiences, Lewis offers a social critique that explores the tension between personal desires and societal pressures. The narrative is infused with humor and romantic adventures, portraying Mr. Wrenn's search for love and meaningful relationships. As he navigates various challenges and experiences, the novel highlights his internal identity crisis and the broader implications of social expectations on personal fulfillment. Overall, \"Our Mr. Wrenn\" presents a thought-provoking and entertaining exploration of how a gentleman's quest for romance and self-realization intersects with the complexities of modern life and societal norms.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57495551672693,"sku":"9789364283557","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9789364283557.jpg?v=1786618216"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-sinclair-lewis.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}