Arowsmith (1925) - Sinclair Lewis Audiobook

Written by Sinclair Lewis
Read by John McDonough
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 96 Kbps

· Length: 20 hrs and 41 mins
· Release date: 01-23-12
· Publisher: Recorded Books

Arrowsmith is often described as the first “scientific” novel. The book explores medical and scientific themes in a fictional way and it is difficult to think of an earlier book that does this. Although he was not a doctor, Sinclair Lewis’s father was and he was greatly helped in the preparation of the manuscript by the science writer Paul de Kruif. It was de Kruif who brings a reality to the book that is almost biographical.

The book describes many aspects of medical training and practice, scientific research that benefits mankind, ethics, integrity, dedication, selfless devotion to the care of patients as well as greed, self deception, stupidity, and the attraction for power, wealth, security and recognition.

This reality means that the book heralds the real impact of advances in drugs, public health, and immunology that were about to change the world. It also satirizes those medical and scientific practitioners whose pursuit of fame and fortune, at the expense of truth, remains just as pertinent today.

The book was first published in 1925 and was a popular and commercial success. It was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1926, which was refused by Sinclair Lewis. He was later to win the Nobel Prize for Literature—which he accepted.

It has inspired generations of med students round the world and a 1931 Hollywood movie directed by John Ford and nominated for four Oscars. However, it is widely agreed that the original work contained here is the best way to sample the author that many claim has had a greater impact on modern American life than Hemingway, Fitzgerald or Faulkner