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Summary: Did Martin choose correctly?
Review: This book won the 1926 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. Lewis also won the 1930 Nobel Prize in Literature. It is the story of Martin Arrowsmith, a medical researcher who, while attending a mid-western medical school, is influenced by an aged bacteriologist. Arrowsmith marries a nurse, who will encourage his career in research, and tries his hand at private practice. However, he fails in that endeavor. After a number of positions he joins a research institute in New York where he discovers a new microorganism but is "scooped." He travels to the West Indies to try his "bacteriophage" on an epidemic. After his wife and colleague die, he starts administering the serum indiscriminately, destroying the results of his experiment. He returns to New York and marries a rich widow. However, social life interferes with his research and his search for truth. He quits the Institute and establishes a lab in Vermont with Terry Wickett, an uncouth but conscientious chemist. The model for Terry Wickett was Dr. John Howard Northrup (1891-1987), who will later win the 1946 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Apparently, the model for Martin Arrowsmith was provided by the microbiologist and writer Paul de Kruif, whose book "Microbe Hunters" became very popular. The novel also contrasts the idealism of the research scientist, who unfortunately looses touch with those that care for him, and the apparent avarice of the medical profession.
Rating: 
Summary: A Good Man in a Commercial World
Review: This is an excellent novel. It tells the story of a brilliant man who, unlike his fellow graduates, wants to prevent disease and death. Sinclair Lewis tells a beautiful tale of the ups and downs of an honest man in a Commercial World.
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Summary: Three of Sinclair Lewis' classic novels
Review: Three of Sinclair Lewis' classic novels and true works of enduring American literature (Arrowsmith, Elmer Gantry, Dodsworth) are combined under one cover in this scholarly Library of America edition. "Arrowsmith" is the story of an idealistic physician who finds greed and corruption at every turn; "Elmer Gantry" is a historically controversial account of a cynical and selfish preacher using his trade to amass wealth and power; and "Dodsworth" is the story of a decaying marriage between an American industrialist and his wife as they travel through Europe. Complementing the great works of 1920's literature are a thoughtful chronology, and a brief yet insightful selection of informative notes on the texts. Published with acid free paper, this volume of Sinclair Lewis' classic fiction is a welcome and very strongly recommended addition to academic and community library collections.
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Summary: Follow Your Dreams
Review: Unusual amongst the 'great' works of Sinclair Lewis (i.e. Main Street, Babbitt, Elmer Gantry, Dodsworth, and Arrowsmith), Arrowsmith doesn't deal with issues of cynicism and the artificiality of modern life. The lead character of "Arrowsmith" has a seemingly simple choice to make: happiness or money.Martin Arrowsmith is a man interested in pure science. Pure science being investigation not for monetary gain but for intellectual gain. Unfortunately, pure scientific research not only doesn't pay the bills but it is usually very expensive to conduct. Arrowsmith is a brilliant scientist who could easily make lots of money developing evermore effective headache remedies for large pharmaceutical companies. Arrowsmith attempts this avenue but is forever pulled back to his true love of pure science. Lewis meant for "Arrowsmith" to be a story about dreams. We all have at some point had a dream about what we wanted to do with ourselves in life. In "Arrowsmith" Lewis seems to be saying that our dreams are attainable but at a price. Arrowsmith suffers hardships and heartaches because of the pursuit of his dream but he is happier for having done so. One gets the impression that had he walked a different path and stayed a researcher at the pharmaceutical company that he would have been unhappy while he was there and would have made everyone around him equally so.
Rating:
Summary: Pulitzer or not, this is a prized favorite.
Review: While reading some older pulitzer winner's, I found a copy of "Arrowsmith" and decided to plunge in. This is a deliteful story about an ambitious young doctor in the 1920's, and his struggle to find a "worthy" use of his medical skills. A thinly veiled contempt for commercialized medicine runs throughout the story, but never gets too "preachy". A very good choice for any med student or young doctor, or anyone at all
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