Upton Sinclair

Upton Sinclair spent seven weeks undercover in the Chicago stockyards and wrote The Jungle to make America care about the men in them; the country was revolted by the meat instead, and Congress passed a food-safety law within months. He aimed at the heart, he said, and hit the stomach by accident. He nearly won the governorship of California in 1934, published ninety books, and took a Pulitzer at sixty-four.