Sinclair Lewis, the first American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, applied subversive satire and razor wit in his portrayals of American life. Born and raised in Sauk Centre, Minnesota, he was one of the earliest writers to attack the myth of the noble, happy, American small town. Main Street, which he described as his "first novel to rouse the embattled peasantry," was praised and reviled--and immensely popular. This initial success was followed by such accomplished books as Babbitt, Arrowsmith, Elmer Gantry, and Dodsworth, classics that today hold a prominent place in the American...