 First edition cover | |
| Author | Upton Sinclair |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Lanny Budd |
| Genre | Historical fiction |
| Publisher | Viking Press |
Publication date | 1942 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 631 pp |
| Preceded by | Between Two Worlds |
| Followed by | Wide is the Gate |
Dragon's Teeth is a 1942 novel by Upton Sinclair that won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1943. [1] Set in the period 1929 to 1934, it covers the Nazi takeover of Germany during the 1930s.
It is the third of Upton Sinclair's World's End series of eleven novels about Lanny Budd, a socialist, art expert, and "Red" grandson of an American arms manufacturer.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by a great American writer portrays the men and women caught in an onslaught of terror, a holocaust from which few escape.
Lanny Budd became involved in what the Nazis termed "politics." He saw it as a question of human decency—that was how he found himself the prey in a manhunt as horrifying as it was deadly. Lanny Budd was one of those millions engulfed in the century's tragedy, trapped by the rising monster of Nazi Germany.
— Back of the 1968 edition
Mr. Sinclair rises to the full fictional possibilities of his material ... a sincere and brave performance.
Few works of fiction are more fun to read; fewer still make history half as clear, or as human.
— Time
Sinclair's finest.
In the first volume of the series, Lanny Budd had met a family of Dutch Jews. By the time the events of this book occur, his half-sister has married one of their sons.
In the climax at the end of this volume, Lanny helps spring the other son from Nazi arrest and jail, and gets caught up in the Blood Purge from June 30 to July 2, 1934 in Germany.
The novel begins with Lanny Budd in the delivery waiting room in a very expensive hospital in England, while his wife, Irma Barnes, is giving birth to their baby girl. The first couple hundred pages of the book reveal details about Lanny Budd and his family and associates. Irma is a wealthy heiress; Lanny's father owns a gun company named Budd Gunmakers. Lanny's half-sister Bess is married to Hansi, a renowned Jewish musician. Bess is a supportive wife who is said to not even allow Hansi to carry his own violin case because his fingers should only be used as a medium to express his beautiful feelings and passion to millions of people. Hansi is humble and plays for the workers at a very low price and sometimes free.
The stock market crashes while Lanny and his friends are on a cruise on the private yacht of Hansi's family. The Jewish family was on their way to pick up their acquaintances at a port and The Budds and friends sit nervously as the yacht fails to return on schedule. The young prosperous Jewish family was captured by the Nazis and the family was split up and put into jails and concentration camps. Johannas, the father of the Jewish family, was retrieved by him giving every last cent of his to the Nazi party. Lanny had to influence to make this happen because he is falsely close with higher ups in the Nazi party and even met Hitler a couple of times over tea. However the rest of the novel is the struggle of getting the last person of the family out of Germany. Although it was arranged that Lanny would pay 30,000 notes for his friend to be dropped off near the border of Germany and allowed to exit the country, SS officers waiting at the location kill Lanny's friend and arrest Lanny. After several days he is dragged into the torture and execution room, where he witnesses the torture of an owner of one of the biggest banks in the world. Strangely he is rescued right before his turn is up. He is brought into an office of one of the greats of the Nazi party that he has met before and is very intimidating especially because of his pet tiger cub. The higher up offers the release of the prisoner if he pays him off and if he goes to the family of the banker and tells them what he saw and gets the account numbers and passwords so they can bleed him dry. If Lanny follows through he will save two lives. Lanny saves his friend and his friend is operated on by one of the greatest doctors in the world to restore him back to perfect health with the help of his wife.
Thornton Niven Wilder was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes — for the novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey and for the plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth — and a U.S. National Book Award for the novel The Eighth Day.
Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. was an American writer, muckraker, political activist and the 1934 Democratic Party nominee for Governor of California 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 20th century, and he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1943.
The Jungle is a 1906 novel by the American journalist and novelist Upton Sinclair (1878–1968). The novel portrays the harsh conditions and exploited lives of immigrants in the United States in Chicago and similar industrialized cities. Sinclair's primary purpose in describing the meat industry and its working conditions was to advance socialism in the United States. However, most readers were more concerned with several passages exposing health violations and unsanitary practices in the American meat packing industry during the early 20th century, which greatly contributed to a public outcry which led to reforms including the Meat Inspection Act.
A German Requiem is a 1991 historical detective novel and the last in the Berlin Noir trilogy of Bernhard Gunther novels written by Philip Kerr.
Dragon's teeth or dragon's tooth may refer to:
White Teeth is a 2000 novel by the British author Zadie Smith. It focuses on the later lives of two wartime friends—the Bangladeshi Samad Iqbal and the Englishman Archie Jones—and their families in London. The novel is centered on Britain's relationship with immigrants from the British Commonwealth.
World's End is the first novel of Upton Sinclair's Lanny Budd series. First published in 1940, after World War II had begun in Europe the previous year, the story covers the period from 1913 to 1919, before and after World War I.
The following are the Pulitzer Prizes for 1943.
The Upton Sinclair House is a historic house at 464 N. Myrtle Avenue, Monrovia, California. Built in 1923, it was the home of American novelist Upton Sinclair (1878-1968) between 1942 and 1966, and is where he wrote many of his later works. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1971. It is a private residence.
Between Two Worlds is the second novel in Upton Sinclair's Lanny Budd series. First published in 1941, the story covers the period from 1919 to 1929
Wide is the Gate is the fourth novel in Upton Sinclair's Lanny Budd series. First published in 1943, the story covers the period from 1934 to 1937.
Presidential Agent is the fifth novel in Upton Sinclair's Lanny Budd series. First published in 1944, the story covers the period from 1937 to 1938.
Dragon Harvest is the sixth novel in Upton Sinclair's Lanny Budd series. First published in 1945, the story covers the period from 1939 to 1940.
Thomas Werner Laurie (1866–1944) was a London publisher of books that were avant-garde in some cases, racy in others.
Boston is a novel by Upton Sinclair. It is a "documentary novel" that combines the facts of the case with journalistic depictions of actual participants and fictional characters and events. Sinclair indicted the American system of justice by setting his characters in the context of the prosecution and execution of Sacco and Vanzetti.
Lanny is a masculine personal name attributed as a variation of Laurence or Roland and may refer to:
A World to Win is the seventh novel in Upton Sinclair's Lanny Budd series. First published in 1946, the story covers the period from 1940 to 1942.
Mary Craig Sinclair (1882–1961) was a writer and the wife of Upton Sinclair.
Grigory Aleksandrovich Tokaev also known as Grigory Tokaty; was a soviet rocket scientist and politician. Eventually turned anti-communist, he defected to the United Kingdom and became a long-standing critic of Stalin's USSR.
Fruit in the Neighbour's Garden is a 1935 German comedy film directed by Erich Engels and starring Karl Valentin, Liesl Karlstadt and Adele Sandrock. Engels later remade the film in 1956.