Arrowsmith

Martin Arrowsmith wants to be a scientist. From his first days as a medical student, he is torn between the pure pursuit of laboratory research and the practical demands of earning a living, pleasing his wife, and navigating the politics of the medical profession. At every turn, the world conspires to pull him away from the microscope.

Published in 1925, Sinclair Lewis traces Arrowsmith’s journey from a small Midwestern town through medical school, a country medical practice, a public health office, a prestigious research institute, and finally to the Caribbean during a devastating plague outbreak. Along the way, Martin is shaped by mentors both inspiring and corrupt, marriages both loving and strained, and a scientific establishment where ambition and integrity are in constant conflict. Lewis, working with the microbiologist Paul de Kruif, brought a rare authenticity to the novel’s portrayal of laboratory science.

Awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1926 – which Lewis famously declined – Arrowsmith remains one of the great American novels about the cost of idealism in a world that rewards compromise.