THE BRASS CHECK

"Serving the rich and spurning the poor." That's how Upton Sinclair (1878-1968) viewed the news media. Using the staccato energy and emphasis of a 1940s radio broadcaster, Peter Lerman deftly narrates Sinclair's detailed and often bitter broadside against the mainstream press of the early twentieth century. Sinclair maintained that rather than debate the facts of child labor or the horrid working conditions in Colorado coal mines (KING COAL, 1917) or Chicago slaughterhouses (THE JUNGLE, 1906), "yellow journalists" like William Randolph Hearst practiced character assassination and impugned Sinclair's reputation as an honest socialist and a tireless investigator of political and economic corruption. Even after 100 years, Sinclair's perspective still provides a fresh voice in this era of "fake news." B.P. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2021]