Dragon's Teeth I (World's End) (2024)

UPDATED 11/13/13 ...

I have read only that part of Dragon's Teeth which carries the story to the spring of 1933. It is a spectacular book, showing through a very involved fictional family the horrors of Hitler achieving power.

I was less interested in Dragon's Teeth as a novel - although it is a very well and powerfully told story - than I was in the observations the novel's characters make about Hitler and the Nazis. Since the novel was published in 1942, these come close to being contemporaneous. Here are some of those observations ...

... It was an atrocious thing that anybody should be permitted to organize a private army as Hitler had done

... One must admit that Hitler is sincere … so are most lunatics

... If you let the German Republic fall and you get Hitler ... how will that help you? ... (LMW: yet that is exactly what the other political parties and the Catholic Church did)

... after he became Chancellor, Hitler had total control of propaganda … every statement he made was on the front page of every newspaper … Goering was Prussian Minister of the interior I could say what he wanted over the radio … Goebbels was Minister of Propaganda and Popular enlightenment ... Nazi propaganda covered Germany like an explosion ... Goebbels could say anything he pleased about his enemies and suppress their replies

... The head of the Berlin fire department had observed gasoline on the floors of the Reichstag … immediately after the fire and announced that the police had carted away a truckload of unburned incendiary materials … immediately after making this announcement he was dismissed from his post

... Hitler wanted two things … to get complete mastery of Germany … to be let alone by the outside world while he was doing it ... (LMW: The Catholic Church, in passing the Enabling Act and signing the Concordat) were of inestimable help to Hitler in achieving both objectives)

For more information on my own novel-in-progress, set in Germany and Poland during the Nazi period, and my previous novels, see http://lewweinsteinauthorblog.com/

those who don't learn from the past are bound to repeat it, that's for sure. Reading this against the rise of the Trump administration is depressing indeed.

Although written in 1942, much of the political comments reflected the political situation today. Sinclair describes the "intellectual proletariat: a mass of persons who had acquired education at a heavy cost of mind and body, but who now found no market for what they had to offer the world." Nothing has changed there. College graduates still can't find careers to fit their hard earned degrees. Later he states, "The cities and the counties, nearing the end of their resources, were clamoring for Federal aid; the returned soldiers had organized to demand a bonus for the services they had rendered overseas while the business men at home were filling their pockets." History repeating itself, only the politicians are the ones filling their pockets while the business men are forced to outsource. He asks, "Was the depression going to wipe out the middle class and drive them into the arms of the demagogues?" Is today's economy destroying the middle class? He describes the Nazis as "a band of desperadoes stopping at nothing to get their way. Nothing on earth or in heaven was sacred except their cause; nothing was wrong that helped their cause and nothing was right that delayed it for a single hour." Today it's the question of picture IDs and voter fraud. Desperate to assure their candidate's position, these people will fight the requirement of voter IDs. So much of the politics and policies put in place between WWI and WWII sounds like what we are experiencing today. Pay close attention in history class. You never know when you might have the opportunity to relive it.

It took me sometime to figure out that this book was one of a series of eleven, and that it occurs somewhere in the middle. The main character, Lanny Budd, is a curious, conscientious boy of fortune who considers himself a "Pink" socialist during the years preceding WW II. Through his privileged but thoughtful encounters with life, the reader receives an education of the upper class and working class of the "Pinks" and "Reds" in the period. The focus is on the state of Germany as it succumbs to the Hitler regime. This detailed history lesson on the specifics of his rise and final take over was incredibly interesting and heartbreaking.

From the author of The Jungle, Upton Sinclair, comes a Pulitzer Prize winning novel about American, British, French and German elites in the early 1930’s. It focuses on the rise of Adi Schecklgruber, Hitler’s given name, and the demise of the Weimar Republic.

Along with Sinclair Lewis’ It Can’t Happen Here, Dragon’s Teeth is filled the historical facts and life/death lessons we all need to absorb.

Upton Sinclair's Dragon's Teeth won the Pulitzer Prize in 1943. The story is set in the period just after the great depression and during the horror of Hitler's rise to power in Germany. The book starts out slow but gets more intriguing as you go. It is definitely Pulitzer Prize worthy writing and I give it 5 stars. I am looking forward to reading more of this author's books.

Before I start, I want to say that I only read volume 1 of Dragon’s Teeth. I’ll get around to reading volume 2 one day, but it might be after the quarantine is lifted. I have read a few other Upton Sinclair books so I know somewhat what his style is.

Dragon’s teeth is about a rich American, Lanny Budd, and his coterie of friends and acquaintances as they go around 1930s Europe. It has no character progression and zero stakes. That said, even if it has almost no novel-like qualities, I enjoyed it.

It talks about something I don’t find easily in fiction: what people were thinking in antebellum (no, not that antebellum) Europe. I can go to Wikipedia and find out that the Communist party was banned in Germany after the Reichstag fire, but this book gives us the point of view from a few perspectives: Socialists and Communists from Germany and France, Americans, industrialists, German monarchists, Nazis and a rich Jew in Germany (I recommend the Garden of The Finzi-Continis for the rich Jew in Italy perspective).

One thing that I appreciate is that it examines, specifically, the way in which the Communist and Socialist parties failed to unite against Fascism. The fundamental difference seems to be that Communists don’t believe in the electoral process and the Socialists so, even though they have similar or nearly so goals, they find themselves opposed to each other. The Communists see the Socialists as a big of a threat as the Nazis, and the Socialists seem to find no common ground.

There’s a bit of logic with this, in that Communism at that point (and in the future, unbeknownst to Sinclair when this was published in 1942) only comes about as a product of revolution. On the other hand, the book talks about Socialists who were in office in France and England especially, and how they capitulated to moneyed powers, effectively betraying the laborers that supported them. Hey, it sounds relevant. I guess every good to great book will be relevant in the common era.

The last third of the book is Lanny and his crew experiencing the rise of Adolf Hitler. It occurs before that, but it really starts accelerating at that point. I like it because it spells out each and every thing step leading up to the point.

Now what feels way more petty: Sinclair (through his protagonist who is more or less a reflection of the author at times or at least his journalist background) frequently uses belittling names with Hitler, obviously out of disrespect, such as Adi or Schicklgruber. It’s as equally ineffective as calling someone Orange Benito, but it makes the speaker feel better.

P.S. I learned the difference between pink and red. A pink is a Socialist and a red is a Communist. That I didn’t know the difference between them in TYOOL 2020 means that the anti-left propaganda has worked fairly effectively in the US.

Fascinating story of the years between WW1 & WW2. Historical fiction with the main character being Lanny, a wealthy American. Interesting to read about Europe during this timeframe from a wealthy person’s view. I learned how Europe especially Germany was in financial and physical ruin after WW1 and how the various political factions wanted power. Ultimately the Nazis took over Germany and began their reign of terror.

Pulitzer Prize winner - which is why I read it.

This book was actually all three books of this part of the Lanny Budd series, which is around 20 books. This is the first Sinclair novel I have read. The writing is very detailed; sometimes annoyingly detailed. The book was published in 1943 so it was being written very close to Hitlers rise to power. Europe was a political cauldron, the pinks, the red, the national socialists, the fascists, the Bolsheviks. Sinclair weaves a compelling story about what people are willing to do for their “cause”.

It is fascinating to see how much application this book, written more than 70 years ago, has in current politics! I was surprised (and disappointed) by the impact of seances and mediums on the overall story. But in all, I was riveted by the characters and the story, even though i didn't get all the cultural references and the foreign language quotes.

Timely, ironical then and now, chilling yet tongue in cheek...

Eh. It's part of a huge series, but it's wholly uninteresting. "Tut tut! Look at the rich people not understanding there's a war about to happen!"

I read this one a few years back but don't remember exactly when, but it was definitely around the rise of Trump and I was finding far too many parallels for comfort. It's a great story for sure. I'd always get Sinclair Lewis and Upton Sinclair completely mixed up. Still do, unfortunately: I actually came here to GR just to look up who was who and found I'd never reviewed it.

This was a used-bookstore paperback find; I'd never heard of the Lanny Budd series (so many!) and all were out of print until recently released as e-books apparently. It is a long, involved novel but had some crazy good scenes of pre-WWII-era expatriate Americans engaging with and somewhat combating the rise of fascism in Europe. Written in 1942, it seems that this is close enough to the "novel date" in the 30's that Sinclair was able to accurately capture the sentiment and thoughts of several groups of people being affected by Hitler's rise to power (rich Americans in Europe, poor Americans in the depression, the communists, the socialists, etc). Obviously I don't know for sure but he certainly paints a detailed picture of how it may have been. Well worth a read.

I believe my copy must have been all the different I, II, III of Dragon's Teeth in a single paperback. I hope I kept my copy around somewhere! Finding the others in the series will probably be a challenge.

I truly love this series, Lanny Budd is portrayed as the young protagonist of potential enormous wealth, who donates as much as possible to causes fighting for the good of the oppressed during the times just prior to World War II.

One must know that Sinclair himself was a proud socialist, but that should not prevent anyone from appreciating his authorship. Lanny is a heroic figure who acts on what he believes in.

The novel is set in the dearly days of th rumbling of the Eurolpean clouds. Meeting Hitler, seeing the "Pompous Pigeon" Mussolini, living in the rather oblivious France, and having relations with the purposefully naive U.K. provides the reader with a fair picture of the European conditions that. led to the war.

Lanny's personal life, His relationship with his family, his marriage, his daughter, all makes for a fun and fascinating vehIcle for the novel

This is the second book I've read in the Lanny Bud series written in 1942 and some of the same comments I made re the first book still apply. It's very long and with an older style of writing that needs getting used to. The book follows Lanny with his society wife around Europe and into Nazi Germany in the late 1930's. The history of the times was very interesting and detailed from Lanny's point of view and he often engages with real people of the times, eg. Hitler, Goring, etc. . There were instances of German speech but no English translations of what was said so it was a bit of a guessing game at times, and there were a few obvious mistakes in editing but all in all, I did enjoy the history and the plotlines.

When I started this book in Sinclair's Lanny Budd series, I didn't realize it was a LONG series, and this book itself is over 600 pages. I don't know whether I'll do the whole series, but I loved this book which won a Pulitzer. The breadth and depth of Sinclair's knowledge is impressive, and he knows how to tell a story. This one is set in the early thirties as the Nazis come into power, and it reflects and reflects on what is going on in art, literature, music and politics of the time, as seen through the lens of a rich young American man who has spent his life in the capitals of Europe. I've read other books about WWI and WWII, but not as much about this in period in between. Fascinating and powerful.

I love historical fiction, but I don’t like to learn history from it. I find I have to bring the history, at least in its outlines, to the novel. But here, Mr. Sinclair strikes me as writing history in the form of puppet theater that includes papier mache characters like Lanny Budd, his wife, etc. etc. The book has absolutely no draw as fiction. I suppose there are some shreds of historical meat in it, but it’s surrounded by tubs of fictional lard. Way too long, way too turgid. Another reason why I distrust the Pulitzer Committee’s taste.

[I “dipped into” this book as far as 65 pages, but am reviewing it as “read” because I can’t figure out the “dipped into” format. That format seems to lead to a “discussion” thread whereas I just want to write what I think. Thanks.]

A compelling insight into the rise of the Third Reich. How Hitler and his associates were able to sweep all functions of government, industry, military, and society is amazing.
So many of us ask “How could this happen?” and this book gives an insight from a unique point of view - that of the privileged class and grows from fascination to mild disturbance, to disbelief, eventually to terror.
I am a history buff and have enjoyed many historical novels (not the romance-type) and this ranks with the best - Les Miserables, Uncle Tom’s Cabin and other eye-opening classics.
This book should be included with those.

One of the classic writers I've wanted to read. This Pulitzer Prize winner from 1943 shows the gradual build-up to the invasion of Poland. It presents the Jews involved in fiance and upper class of Europe and the gradual Fascist treatment by Hitler. It also provides views of the Democratic-Socialists and Communists vying for control over Germany. An interesting description of Hitler and his behavior.

I had a difficult time getting into the beginning of this book, but about a third of the way in, I was hooked. I found the relationship between Lanny and Irma so interesting. The book reminded me of Erik Larson's In the Garden of the Beast as it described the varying opinions of people as Hitler came to power. The dialogue with Hitler was chilling.

Extremely well written but got too scary and I didn't finish; it might be better understood by persons who were alive at that time.

Disappointing, was hoping for something as enthralling as The Jungle. Just poor little rich kid.... No thanks

Dragon 19s Teeth: World 19s End series volume 3.
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This part covers the time period when evil began to proliferate in Europe with establishment of fascist regimes.

Dragon 19s teeth are being sown in the neighbourhood of Lanny 19s adopted country, France 13 there is Italy to the south and Germany to east, and Lanny watches with dismay as events progress. His circle grows to include various high officials of the new regime in Germany even as his stepsister from New England is married to the Jewish genius violinist friend whose family lives in Germany, and the couple go around US and Europe including Russia giving concerts.

Rick 19s son was in love with Marceline, but she is not into thinking or ideas and is bored, and Ricky is not going to change himself into the slave of fashion and life of luxury she may like, and they part. She is a good dancer but is not about to work hard for it, and gets by in small way due to being beautiful like her mother and possessing the natural French arts of attracting on top of that. She marries an Italian soldier, handsome on uniform but dependent on her for money. Lanny and Beauty have controls of the family money, which she resents, demanding money without limit for her and for her husband as her right.

Lanny has chosen art for a career, since he knows a lot and can help various collectors or would be collectors with their collection, and the old guard who need money desperately and may have to let go of a work of art. This serves well as a reason to travel and meet people including high ups in German regime, aristocrats and rich people everywhere, and veil other meetings and short travels to aid his socialist and Jewish friends.

Irma disapproves when she discovers, and makes him promise he won 19t keep dangerous company that might involve her losing her fortune due to their philosophy which doesn 19t stop them from taking their money. Lanny would like to be agreeable, but can hardly sever his ties with the leftists what with a communist uncle Jesse and a communist half sister too, the daughter of Budds who is married to a Jewish violinist.

He therefore must see his friends and help those that need help, secretly 13 this troubles his heart, he is an honest person, but times like these one cannot help it. One is being forced to choose sides, and would rather not divide one 19s world into parts.

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Simon Publications has done the reading public a favor by reissuing this in hard copy.

When I was a teenager I stumbled upon the Lanny Budd books in a used book store. I was able to read the first five or so. Then, in those pre-internet days, my supply ran out. One of the series had won a Pulitzer Prize back in the day, but by the Eighties they were long out of fashion and out of print. I had hit a dead end. I'd read a tremendous amount, and learned a great deal, and I had only covered the time from World War One to Hitler's territorial expansion into Austria. So I was pleased to come across Dragon Harvest I and II at my public library.

Muckraker and one-time Socialist candidate for CA governor Upton Sinclair did not suffer from writer's block. These books are long, and eccentric. There are quite a few detours devoted to psychic research, although Hitler's interest in the paranormal turns Sinclair's interest into a plot device. His hero, Lanny Budd, is a little too perfect - he meets everyone and knows everyone. He's incredibly well connected. He's smart and good-looking. He's rich but devoted to left politics that gradually evolve into a kind of Cold War New Dealism. He's a bit of an old maid because he doesn't want sex and marriage to compromise his ability to fight Fascism as a secret agent. He loses a lot of friends over the years but seems to have a knack for avoiding Gestapo interrogations.

If you are interested in Left politics and are particularly interested as to why many did not view Mussolini, Franco, and Hitler as a threat until Poland, or the fall of France, or even Pearl Harbor, you will find this a fascinating read.

I stumbled on this book in my Dutch grandfather’s library, which I inherited from my mother. He was Eugene Debs socialist. I had no idea that Upton Sinclair was such a prolific writer—100 books! This one started me in the middle of his Lanny Budd series. Although it is fictional it felt like nonfiction because it included a cast of rogues from real life during the run up to WWII, including Nazi sympathizers among government leaders and industrialists and the peerage in the US and Britain and France. This original version was published in 1945, with permission from the War Board, so perhaps he had access to journalistic accounts about all these real people. Fascinating way to show who fascism appealed to and why; how Hitler attracted and retained the loyalty of so many. It seems to be Trumps playbook, but since he doesnt read anything, it may just be awareness of right wing populists and similar will to power and belief in the master race passed on through his family. Its very long and somewhat repetitive, but worth the slog in this time of increasing authoritarianism.

This book was a bit difficult for me to get in to since the vocabulary was a bit higher than mine and parts are in French and German (neither of which I speak), but...it was worth the effort. Although the book made me feel like those of us in the "lower classes" will always have to hope there are decent rich folk around, I appreciated the main characters ability to overcome his class (and spoiled - though justifiably worried, wife's) expectations. The writing is amazing and the story is compelling, though I will not read about World War II in Germany for a while again.

Well, this is just half of the novel. Not sure why the reprint publisher divided the novel into two separate books, but so it is. I'll save my review until I finish book 2, but suffice it to say that it takes a while to get into the story, but it really picks up towards the end of Book 1 and really gets good throughout Book 2. Check out my review of Book 2 (when I finish it) for a complete review of the whole novel. UPDATE: Just finished Book 2 and my review of the whole novel is published there.

The third book in the Lanny Budd series. I've read the series 2 or 3 times and am reading through it again.

I have lost my copies of the set. But this was first one I read and it was incredible. He was such a wonderful writer.