Arrowsmith
Sinclair Lewis · 1885–1951 · United States
Why it matters
An idealistic doctor chases pure scientific truth through small-town quackery, public health politics, and a Caribbean plague outbreak. Lewis's Pulitzer winner, which he pointedly refused, remains American fiction's sharpest portrait of science under institutional pressure.
At a glance
satirebildungsroman
Difficulty 5/10medium pace448 pagesDense period-specific medical and satirical detail, in keeping with Lewis's other social novels.
Deep dive
An idealistic doctor keeps discovering that every institution meant to serve pure science actually wants something else from him, right up to the Pulitzer committee.
