The Goose-step - Softcover

Sinclair, Upton

 
9789354788109: The Goose-step

Inhaltsangabe

The protagonist, a young man named John M. Smith, is a student at a fictional university where the faculty and administration are increasingly influenced by militaristic values. As he navigates his education, Smith becomes acutely aware of the tension between the idealistic notion of higher education as a space for free thought and the reality of a system that is more focused on creating obedient, conformist citizens. Sinclair uses Smith's experiences to expose the dangers of this "goose-step" mentality, where the pursuit of knowledge is overshadowed by political and social pressures. Through sharp dialogue and a biting narrative, Sinclair critiques the culture of deference to authority, blind nationalism, and the militarization of education. The novel raises questions about the role of universities in shaping society and the individual's relationship to the state, presenting a powerful argument against the unchecked growth of authoritarian systems.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. (1878 - 1968) was an American writer who wrote nearly 100 books and other works in several genres. Sinclair's work was well-known and popular in the first half of the twentieth century and he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1943. In 1906, Sinclair acquired particular fame for his classic muckraking novel The Jungle, which exposed 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. In 1919, he published The Brass Check, a muckraking exposé of American journalism that publicized the issue of yellow journalism and the limitations of the "free press" in the United States. Four years after publication of The Brass Check, the first code of ethics for journalists was created. Time magazine called him "a man with every gift except humor and silence". He is also well remembered for the line: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." He used this line in speeches and the book about his campaign for governor as a way to explain why the editors and publishers of the major newspapers in California would not treat seriously his proposals for old age pensions and other progressive reforms. Upton Sinclair was considered a force of nature -- being not only prolific in his novel-writing but a political force of decided influence. Unknown to many of his admirers, Sinclair also wrote adventure fiction, under the name Ensign Clark Fitch, U.S.N.

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