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Upton Sinclair

Books four through six in the Pulitzer Prize–winning series of historical novels about an international spy in the first half of the twentieth century. 
 
 An ambitious and entertaining mix of history, adventure, and romance, Upton Sinclair’s Pulitzer Prize–winning Lanny Budd novels are a testament to the breathtaking scope of the author’s vision and his singular talents as a storyteller. “Few works of fiction are more fun to read; fewer still make history half as clear, or as human” (Time). In these three novels, as the threat of Nazism grows in the 1930s, Lanny progresses from international art dealer to international spy.
 
Wide Is the Gate: When his arms dealer father strikes a business agreement with Hermann Göring, Lanny uses the opportunity and his art world reputation to move easily among the Nazi high command and gather valuable information he can transmit back to those who are dedicated to the destruction of Nazism and Fascism. He’s playing a dangerous—albeit necessary—game, which will carry him from Germany to Spain on a life-and-death mission on the eve of the Spanish Civil War.
 
The Presidential Agent: In 1937, Lanny’s boss from the Paris Peace Conference—now one of Roosevelt’s top advisors—connects him to the president. Appointed Presidential Agent 103, he embarks on a secret assignment that takes him back into the Third Reich as the Allied powers prepare to cede Czechoslovakia to Adolf Hitler in a futile attempt to avoid war. But Lanny’s motivations are not just political: The woman he loves has fallen into the brutal hands of the Gestapo, and Lanny will risk everything to save her.
 
Dragon Harvest: Lanny has earned the trust of Adolf Hitler and his inner circle, who are convinced the American art dealer is a “true believer” committed to their Fascist cause. But when Roosevelt’s secret agent learns of the Führer’s plans for conquest, his dire warnings to Neville Chamberlain and other reluctant European leaders fall on deaf ears. The bitter seeds sown decades earlier with the Treaty of Versailles are now bearing fruit, and there will be no stopping the Nazi war machine as it rolls relentlessly on toward Paris.

Open Road Media

The Lanny Budd Novels

The Lanny Budd Novels Volume Two: Wide Is the Gate, Presidential Agent, and Dragon Harvest

Upton Sinclair’s Pulitzer Prize–winning series of historical novels brings the first half of the twentieth century dramatically to life.

 In World’s End, the gathering storm clouds of World War I burst over Europe, forcing Lanning “Lanny” Budd, the young son of an American arms dealer, to put the innocence of youth behind him; his language skills and talent for decoding messages are in high demand. At his father’s side, Lanny meets many important political and military figures, learns about the myriad causes of the conflict, and closely follows the war’s progress. When the bloody hostilities conclude, Lanny joins the Paris Peace Conference as the assistant to a geographer asked by President Woodrow Wilson to redraw the map of Europe.
 
 From the rise of Fascism in Europe to the stock market crash on Wall Street, Between Two Worlds captures the drama, intrigue, and excitement of the Roaring Twenties. At the start of his career as an international art dealer, Lanny travels to Italy and witnesses the brutal charisma of Benito Mussolini. Meanwhile, in Germany, the failed Beer Hall Putsch led by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party strikes an ominous note, foreshadowing the devastation to come. After two star-crossed love affairs, Lanny marries a wealthy heiress and chooses the United States with its booming economy as their home. But neither he nor those he loves can predict the financial disaster that will bring a decade of prosperity to an abrupt close.
 
 Winner of the 1943 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Dragon’s Teeth brilliantly captures the nightmarish march toward the Second World War. In Germany to visit relatives, Lanny encounters a disturbing atmosphere of hatred and jingoism stoked by the Nazi Party and meets the group’s fanatical leader, Adolf Hitler. But Lanny’s gravest fear is the threat to his Jewish friends and family—a threat that impels him to risk his wealth, his future, and even his life in a courageous attempt to rescue his loved ones from a terrible fate.
 
 An astonishing mix of history, adventure, and romance, the Lanny Budd Novels are a testament to the breathtaking scope of Upton Sinclair’s vision and his singular talents as a storyteller.

The Lanny Budd Novels Volume One: World's End, Between Two Worlds, and Dragon's Teeth

Presidential secret agent Lanny Budd is called back into action in post-war Germany as the Cold War begins

 Since the age of thirteen, Lanny Budd has been more than an eyewitness to history. From the Paris Peace Conference to the Battle of the Bulge, he has played key roles in the extraordinary events of his age. Now, forty years later, Presidential Agent 103 is coming out of retirement to serve his country—and the free world—once more.
 
 A counterfeiting conspiracy hatched by unrepentant neo-Nazis threatens to gravely damage America’s efforts to rebuild and stabilize a divided Germany. Lanny’s previous experience, as well as his unexpected connection to one of the chief conspirators, makes him the ideal operative to foil the sinister plot. But when he infiltrates the Russian-controlled sector, what Lanny sees makes his blood run cold. Communist leader and former US ally Joseph Stalin has twisted the socialist ideals he holds dear into weapons of tyranny, oppression, and terror. With the onset of a shadow war between two world superpowers, Lanny realizes that his mission is far from over.
 
The Return of Lanny Budd is the final volume of Upton Sinclair’s Pulitzer Prize–winning dramatization of twentieth-century world history. A thrilling mix of adventure, romance, and political intrigue, the Lanny Budd Novels are a testament to the breathtaking scope of the author’s vision and his singular talents as a storyteller.

The Return of Lanny Budd

The second in the Pulitzer Prize–winning historical fiction series takes Lanny Budd through the 1920s, from the rise of fascism to the crash on Wall Street.

 The First World War brought an abrupt end to Lanny Budd’s idyllic youth. Now, in the wake of the Treaty of Versailles, he barely recognizes the beloved Europe of his boyhood.

 At the start of his career as an international art dealer, Lanny travels to Italy and witnesses the brutal charisma of Fascist leader Benito Mussolini. Meanwhile, in Germany, the failed Beer Hall Putsch led by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party strikes an ominous note foreshadowing the devastation to come. After two star-crossed love affairs, Lanny marries a wealthy heiress and chooses the United States with its booming economy as their home. But neither he nor those he loves can predict the financial disaster that will bring a decade of prosperity to an abrupt close.
 
Between Two Worlds brings one of the most fascinating and tumultuous decades of the twentieth century to thrilling life. A spellbinding mix of history, adventure, and romance, the Lanny Budd Novels are a testament to the breathtaking scope of Upton Sinclair’s vision and his singular talents as a storyteller.

Between Two Worlds

Upton Sinclair’s Pulitzer Prize–winning saga continues as Lanny Budd faces the horrors of Nazi Germany and steps into the fire of the Spanish Civil War

 Lanny Budd’s dedication to social justice and political action has placed a serious strain on his marriage to his heiress wife, Irma, but as he moves through the 1930s, the international art dealer is unable to turn a blind eye to what is happening in Europe. As the Nazi Party solidifies its power in Germany, Lanny recognizes a golden opportunity to make a difference when his arms dealer father strikes a business agreement with Hermann Göring, Adolf Hitler’s second-in-command.
 
 Robbie Budd’s alliance with the Luftwaffe commander and Lanny’s art world reputation enable the younger Budd to move easily among the Nazi high command and gather valuable information he can transmit back to those who are dedicated to the destruction of Nazism and Fascism. It is a dangerous—albeit necessary—game that Lanny is playing, and it will carry him from Germany to Spain on a life-and-death mission on the eve of the Spanish Civil War.
 
 The fourth installment of an eleven-book series, Wide Is the Gate continues Upton Sinclair’s literary journey through the tumult of the twentieth century. An astonishing mix of history, adventure, and romance, the Lanny Budd Novels are a testament to the breathtaking scope of the author’s vision and his singular talents as a storyteller.

Wide Is the Gate

Lanny Budd infiltrates the Nazi high command in the riveting sixth chapter of Upton Sinclair’s Pulitzer Prize–winning series of historical novels

 Dashing and well-connected, Lanny Budd has earned the trust of the Nazi high command. To Adolf Hitler and his inner circle, the American art dealer is a “true believer” committed to their Fascist cause. But Lanny is actually a secret agent serving as President Franklin Roosevelt’s eyes and ears in Germany.

 When he learns of the Führer’s plans for conquest, Lanny’s dire warnings to Neville Chamberlain and other reluctant European leaders fall on deaf ears. The bitter seeds sown decades earlier with the Treaty of Versailles are now bearing fruit, and there will be no stopping the Nazi war machine as it rolls relentlessly on toward Paris.
 
Dragon Harvest captures the dramatic moment when world leaders realized that in trying to appease Hitler, they made a grave mistake. An astonishing mix of history, adventure, and romance, the Lanny Budd Novels are a testament to the breathtaking scope of Upton Sinclair’s vision and his singular talents as a storyteller.

Dragon Harvest

Presidential Agent 103 is targeted by allies and enemies alike as the Nazis roll across Europe in this novel in the Pulitzer Prize–winning series.

 Europe, 1940. As war rages across the continent, America watches anxiously from the sidelines. And President Franklin Roosevelt has been keeping an even closer eye on developments in the Third Reich. At the president’s personal request, Lanny Budd gained the confidence of the Nazi high command and began transmitting valuable information back to the White House.
 
 Espionage is a dangerous game, however, and Presidential Agent 103 soon finds himself a target of the French Resistance fighters he is attempting to assist. On a trip to London, Lanny avoids death during a Luftwaffe bombing raid and takes part in the capture of Rudolf Hess. He gets stranded in Asia and is forced to make his way across war-torn China after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor finally brings the United States into the global melee. But Lanny’s most important mission still lies before him: He must enter the lion’s den alone and unprotected once more to unearth the Nazi Party’s most deeply buried secret—the progress of Hitler’s scientists in the race to build the atom bomb.
 
A World to Win is the electrifying seventh chapter of the Pulitzer Prize–winning series that brings the first half of the twentieth century to vivid life. An astonishing mix of history, adventure, and romance, the Lanny Budd Novels are a testament to the breathtaking scope of Upton Sinclair’s vision and his singular talents as a storyteller.

A World to Win

America is at war, and Lanny Budd risks life and limb from North Africa to Moscow on behalf of the Allied cause in this “absorbing” historical novel (The New York Times).

 Members of the German high command believe that American art expert Lanny Budd is sympathetic to their cause, but since 1938 he has been an undercover agent working for President Franklin Roosevelt. Now, in 1941, the United States has been pulled into the fray by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and Lanny’s services are required more than ever.

 In Algiers he must convince the French troops to stand with the Allies in advance of the Axis invasion. A meeting in Moscow, intended to sway Communist despot Joseph Stalin, precedes Hitler’s disastrous decision to invade Russia. Over the course of the next two years, Lanny faces death at virtually every turn as his important presidential missions carry him from the sands of the African desert to the bomb-blasted streets of Berlin.
 
Presidential Mission is the electrifying eighth chapter of Upton Sinclair’s Pulitzer Prize–winning dramatization of twentieth-century world history. An astonishing mix of adventure, romance, and political intrigue, the Lanny Budd Novels are a testament to the breathtaking scope of the author’s vision and his singular talents as a storyteller.

Presidential Mission

As D-Day approaches, an American spy is unmasked by Himmler’s Gestapo and must flee the Nazis, in this novel in the Pulitzer Prize–winning historical saga. 

 In 1943, the once-unstoppable Nazi war machine is starting to falter. For a decade and a half, Lanny Budd’s cover as a fine-art dealer and Fascist sympathizer has held firm, earning him the confidence of Hermann Göring and other top officials, including Adolf Hitler himself. With the Allies preparing to retake Europe, Lanny must make certain that the location of the invasion remains hidden from the Nazi high command. But his mission is compromised and his life endangered when Heinrich Himmler, Hitler’s feared Gestapo chief, uncovers Lanny’s true loyalties.
 
 Now FDR’s most trusted spy must run for his life, escaping into the European countryside with Hitler’s executioners on his trail. His survival will require great courage, endurance, and ingenuity, but Lanny Budd is determined to live long enough to witness what he has waited so many years to see: the final collapse of the Third Reich.
 
One Clear Call is the thrilling ninth installment of Upton Sinclair’s Pulitzer Prize–winning dramatization of twentieth-century world history. An astonishing mix of adventure, romance, and political intrigue, the Lanny Budd Novels are a testament to the breathtaking scope of the author’s vision and his singular talents as a storyteller.

One Clear Call

As Presidential Agent 103, Lanny Budd witnesses the collapse of the Nazis, the bombing of Hiroshima, and the Nuremberg Trials in this novel in the Pulitzer Prize–winning saga. 

 As a spy for President Franklin Roosevelt, Lanny Budd was able to infiltrate the inner circle of the Nazi high command and glean essential information on behalf of the Allied cause. Now, as the terrible global conflict approaches its long-awaited conclusion, the newly commissioned Captain Budd of the US Army is on hand to witness the final collapse of the Third Reich in the aftermath of the Battle of the Bulge.
 
 The nuclear destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki brings World War II to an end, but not even the death of Franklin Roosevelt can release Lanny from his obligations as Presidential Agent 103. A devastated Europe needs to be rebuilt, and there is a necessary reckoning still to come in the heart of defeated Germany, where the fanatics who murdered countless millions will stand trial for their crimes.
 
O Shepherd, Speak! is the penultimate volume of Upton Sinclair’s Pulitzer Prize–winning dramatization of twentieth-century world history. An astonishing mix of adventure, romance, and political intrigue, the Lanny Budd Novels are a testament to the breathtaking scope of the author’s vision and his singular talents as a storyteller.