In her innocence she had not known that the whole town could discuss even her garments, her body. She felt that she was being dragged naked down Main Street. -Sinclair Lewis in Main Street The tyranny of nine to five is stronger, more insistent, in every department of life, than the most officious oligarchy. Inspectors can be bribed, judges softened, and recruiting sergeants evaded, but only the grace of God will turn 3:30 into 5:30. -Sinclair Lewis in The Trail of the HawkIn 1939, Sinclair Lewis became the first person from the United States to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. His incomparable satire and uncanny ability to write about everyday life earned him a place among the most read authors of the early twentieth century. Sometimes humorous, sometimes romantic, sometimes offensive, and always realistic, Lewis wrote about us-all of us. From the poor to the rich and the conservative to the liberal, nobody escaped his critical eye. He knew that every flower came with a price and he wanted us to see the thorns underneath the bloom, whether we wanted to or not. In Main Speak: Quotes from the Work of Sinclair Lewis, Michael Fridgen presents excerpts from twenty-two of Lewis’s novels. These selections prove that Sinclair Lewis deserves to be listed among the very best writers to win a Nobel Prize.About the author: Michael Fridgen is from Stearns County, Minnesota-the same county where Sinclair Lewis was born and raised. Fridgen began his obsession with Lewis after graduating from a rural high school 36.5 miles from Lewis’s hometown. A former finalist for the Minnesota Book Award, Fridgen has written several works of fiction and three nonfiction books about the theme park industry. He lives in Minneapolis.