Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1996. [Vol. 3.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 23)

BOOK REVIEWS - John C. Chalberg: Lehel Vadon: Upton Sinclair in Hungary. Eger, Hungary: College Press, 1993. 125 pp

its American debut; and it eventually "enjoyed eight publications" in Hungary. A year later Sinclair published Boston

, which Hungarian and American critics alike have long considered to be one of his best works. The centerpiece of the story is what Vadon labels the "judicial murder" of two Italian immigrant anarchists Nicolai Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. In retrospect, Sinclair was not so sure that such a label was entirely accurate. According to Harris, he "gradually" became convinced that Sacco and Vanzetti "had at least known about the hold up" (which led to the murder of the payroll guards for which the two men stood trial)

. In the final analysis Sinclair tended to agree with local Boston radicals who thought that "Sacco was guilty and Vanzetti knew it." But whatever his speculations about their guilt or innocence, Sinclair was certain that they had not received a fair trial. Sinclair did entertain more than idle hope that Boston would bring him at least a Pulitzer, if not a Nobel prize. His casual friend and occasional correspondent, H. L. Mencken, thought that Sinclair had no business accepting the latter: "A man who hates capitalism as ardently as Upton Sinclair could not conceivably accept money from a dynamite manufacturer." There was no need to worry. Sinclair would never win either prize. By 1934 another prize loomed before him: the governorship of California. Now fifty-six, Sinclair was not exactly a political novice. As a socialist he had run and lost a New Jersey congressional race years earlier. In 1931 Norman Thomas approached him to run for president on the socialist ticket. Three years later Sinclair would resign from the Socialist Party to run for governor as a Democrat and on his EPIC (End Poverty in California) pledge. Tired of the socialist schisms, sick of losing and being ignored, Sinclair decided that part of the problem was the word "socialist" itself. Hence his decision to register as a Democrat and pitch his appeal in the direction of the "ruined middle class." Fellow Democrats Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt did not immediately spurn their new ally, but they pointedly refused to endorse his candidacy. So did most of 172