Editing Upton Sinclair (section)

==Early life and education==
Sinclair was born in [[Baltimore]], Maryland, to Upton Beall Sinclair Sr. and Priscilla Harden Sinclair. His father was a liquor salesman whose [[alcoholism]] shadowed his son's childhood. Priscilla Harden Sinclair was a strict [[Episcopalian]] who disliked alcohol, tea, and coffee. Both of Upton Sinclair's parents were of [[British Americans|British ancestry]]. His paternal grandparents were [[Scotland|Scottish]], and all of his ancestors emigrated to America from [[Great Britain]] during the late 1600s and early 1700s.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kunitz|first=Stanley|url=https://archive.org/details/livingauthorsboo0000kuni/page/374/mode/2up|title=Living Authors: A Book of Biographies|publisher=H.W. Wilson Co.|year=1931|isbn=|location=New York|pages=375–376|oclc=599950758|author-link=Stanley Kunitz|url-access=registration}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=January 2021}} As a child, Sinclair slept either on sofas or cross-ways on his parents' bed. When his father was out for the night, he would sleep in the bed with his mother.<ref name="Harris, Leon 1975">{{cite book| last= Harris| first= Leon| year= 1975| title= Upton Sinclair: American Rebel| publisher= Thomas Y. Crowell Company| place= New York}}</ref> His mother's family was very affluent: her parents were very prosperous in Baltimore, and her sister married a millionaire. Sinclair had wealthy maternal grandparents with whom he often stayed. This gave him insight into how both the rich and the poor lived during the late 19th century. Living in two social settings affected him and greatly influenced his books. Upton Beall Sinclair Sr. was from a highly respected family in the South, but the family was financially ruined by the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], the end of slavery causing disruptions of the labor system during the [[Reconstruction era]], and an extended agricultural depression.

As he was growing up, Upton's family moved frequently, as his father was not successful in his career. He developed a love for reading when he was five years old. He read every book his mother owned for a deeper understanding of the world. He did not start school until he was 10 years old. He was deficient in math and worked hard to catch up quickly because of his embarrassment.<ref name="Harris, Leon 1975"/> In 1888, the Sinclair family moved to [[Queens]], New York City, where his father sold shoes. Upton entered the [[City College of New York]] five days before his 14th birthday,<ref name= Joslyn>{{cite book| last = Sinclair | first = Upton | publisher = Dover Thrift | editor-first = Paul | editor-last = Negri | title = The Jungle | chapter = Joslyn T Pine Note | pages = vii–viii}}</ref> on September 15, 1892.<ref name="Harris, Leon 1975" /> He wrote jokes, [[dime novel]]s, and magazine articles in boys' weekly and [[pulp magazine]]s to pay for his tuition.<ref name = "The Cosmopolitan">{{cite book | last = Sinclair|first= Upton|title= The Cosmopolitan|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=vHJBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA591-IA3|access-date= 6 October 2011|year= 1906 | publisher = Schlicht & Field|pages =591ff |chapter= What Life Means to Me}}</ref> With that income, he was able to move his parents to an apartment when he was seventeen years old.<ref name="Harris, Leon 1975" />

He graduated from City College in June 1897. He subsequently studied law at [[Columbia University]],<ref name=":0">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Upton Sinclair |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Upton-Sinclair |access-date=November 20, 2022}}</ref> but he was more interested in writing. He learned several languages, including Spanish, German, and French. He paid the one-time enrollment fee to be able to learn a variety of subjects. He would sign up for a class and then later drop it.<ref name= Yoder>{{cite book| last= Yoder| first= Jon A. |year= 1975| title= Upton Sinclair| publisher= Frederick Ungar Publishing Co.| place= New York}}</ref> He again supported himself through college by writing boys' adventure stories and jokes. He also sold ideas to cartoonists.<ref name="Harris, Leon 1975" /> Using [[stenographers]], he wrote up to 8,000 words of pulp fiction per day. His only complaint about his educational experience was that it failed to educate him about socialism.<ref name= Yoder /> After leaving Columbia without a degree, he wrote four books in the next four years; they were commercially unsuccessful though critically well-received: ''King Midas'' (1901), ''Prince Hagen'' (1902), ''[[The Journal of Arthur Stirling]]'' (1903), and a Civil War novel, ''Manassas'' (1904).<ref name=":0" />

Sinclair did not get on with his mother when he became older because of her strict rules and refusal to allow him independence. Sinclair later told his son, David, that around Sinclair's 16th year, he decided not to have anything to do with his mother, staying away from her for 35 years because an argument would start if they met.<ref>{{cite book| editor-last = Bloom | editor-first = Harold | title = Upton Sinclair's The Jungle | publisher = Infobase | year = 2002 | last = Derrick | first = Scott | chapter = What a Beating Feels Like: Authorship Dissolution, and Masculinity in Sinclair's The Jungle | pages = 131–132}}</ref>

Upton became close with Reverend William Wilmerding Moir. Moir specialized in sexual abstinence and taught his beliefs to Sinclair. He was taught to "avoid the subject of sex." Sinclair was to report to Moir monthly regarding his abstinence. Despite their close relationship, Sinclair identified as agnostic.<ref name="Harris, Leon 1975" />