Elmer Gantry
by Sinclair Lewis
Universally considered a landmark in American literature, Elmer Gantry scandalized readers when it was first published, leading to Sinclair Lewis being "invited" into a prison cell in New Hampshire and his own lynching in Virginia. The portrait of a golden-tongued evangelist who rose to power in his church—the savior of souls who lived a life of cunning, sensuality, and cruel self-contempt—is also a record of a period that would leave no trace but Lewis, a reign of grotesque vulgarity. Elmer Gantry has been called the greatest, most necessary, and most insightful work of hypocrisy that has been written since the days of Voltaire's works.
