American literature in the 1920s did not belong to F. Scott Fitzgerald's glitterati, or to Ernest Hemingway's expatriates, but to Sinclair Lewis and SmallTown USA. Lewis dominated the decade, first with Main Street in 1920, and then at a two-year pace, Babbitt, Arrowsmith, Elmer Gantry, and Dodsworth. These five books, and the little game Lewis played with the Pulitzer and Nobel Prizes he received for them, would become the most famous chapter in his noisy and controversial career. ... FULL STORY »
