Books four through six in the Pulitzer Prize–winning series of historical novels following the adventures of a brilliant 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.
"These historical novels engulfed me in the thrilling and terrible imperatives of history.... Sinclair's historical acumen and his calculations about powerful institutions-government, press, corporations, oil cartels and lobbyists-remain remarkably shrewd and often prescient."
The New York Times
"When people ask me what has happened in my long lifetime, I do not refer them to the newspaper files and to the authorities, but to [Upton Sinclair's] novels."
George Bernard Shaw
"A great and well-balanced design... I think it the completest and most faithful portrait of that period that has been done or will likely be done."
