{"product_id":"babbitt-paperback-10","title":"Babbitt - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eSinclair Lewis\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen \u003cb\u003eBabbitt\u003c\/b\u003e was first published in 1922, fans gleefully hailed its scathing portrait of a crass, materialistic nation; critics denounced it as an unfair skewering of the American businessman. Sparking heated literary debate, \u003cb\u003eBabbitt \u003c\/b\u003ebecame a controversial classic, securing Sinclair Lewis's place as one of America's preeminent social commentators. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBusinessman George F. Babbitt loves the latest appliances, brand names, 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. Realizing that his life is devoid of meaning, he grows determined to transcend his trivial existence and search for greater purpose. Raising thought-provoking questions while yielding hilarious consequences, and just as relevant today as ever, Babbitt's quest for meaning forces us to confront the Babbitt in ourselves--and ponder what it truly means to be an American.\u003ch3\u003eFront Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eFollowing the critical and commercial success of Main Street, Sinclair Lewis directed his barbs at the American businessman in \"Babbitt. The central character, George Follansbee Babbitt, is a middle-aged realtor living in Zenith, the Zip City. He is unimaginative, self-important, and hopelessly middle class. Vaguely dissatisfied with his position, he tries to alter the pattern of his life by flirting with liberalism and by having an affair with an attractive widow, only to find that his dread of ostracism is greater than his desire for escape. He does, however, encourage the rebellion of his son, Ted. Lewis's seventh novel defined an American type and gave the language a name for the smug person who readily conforms to middle class standards and conventions.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eSinclair Lewis (1885-1951) won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1930, the first American novelist to be so honored. He was born in Sauk Centre, Minnesota, the son of a doctor. After an extremely unhappy childhood, he went to Yale but left before graduation to work in Upton Sinclair's socialist colony at Helicon Hall in Englewood, New Jersey. Unable to make a living as a freelance writer, he returned to Yale and graduated in 1908. In 1914 he published his first novel, \u003ci\u003eOur Mr. Wrenn: The Romantic Adventures of a Gentle Man. \u003c\/i\u003e But it was not until his sixth novel, \u003cb\u003e Main Street \u003c\/b\u003e(1920), that he won recognition as an important American novelist, the first to challenge the myth of the happy quintessentially American small town. His major works are \u003cb\u003eBabbitt\u003c\/b\u003e (1922), \u003ci\u003eArrowsmith \u003c\/i\u003e(1925), which won a Pulitzer Prize that Lewis refused to accept, \u003ci\u003eElmer Gantry \u003c\/i\u003e(1927), \u003ci\u003eDodsworth \u003c\/i\u003e(1929), and \u003ci\u003eIt Can't Happen Here \u003c\/i\u003e(1935), which he also wrote as a play in 1936. Married and divorced twice, the second time to pioneering newspaperwoman Dorothy Thompson, Lewis was a prolific writer, publishing dozens of books and innumerable articles throughout his career. He died alone in Rome on January 10, 1951, and his ashes were returned to Sauk Centre, the \"Main Street\" he'd rejected so many decades before but which in death took him back as its own.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 464\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.9 x 6.9 x 4.2 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e September 01, 1998\u003c\/div\u003e\n                \u003cdiv\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAccelerated Reader:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n                \n                \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eQuiz Name:\u003c\/strong\u003e Babbitt\u003c\/div\u003e\n                \n                \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eInterest Level:\u003c\/strong\u003e Upper Grades, 9-12\u003c\/div\u003e\n                \n                \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReading Level:\u003c\/strong\u003e 7.8\u003c\/div\u003e\n                \n                \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePoint Value:\u003c\/strong\u003e 22\u003c\/div\u003e\n                ","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42175990890631,"sku":"9780553214864","price":7.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0601\/2623\/2711\/files\/b8237a268485874eaeb41245abd3331f.webp?v=1733385863","url":"https:\/\/booksby.splitshops.com\/products\/babbitt-paperback-10","provider":"Books by splitShops","version":"1.0","type":"link"}