Main Street (1920) is Sinclair Lewis’ most significant work, and along with Babbitt, established him as the premier critic and satirist of small town America in the early 2oth century.  Set in the 1910’s and spanning the First World War and the onset of Prohibition, the story centers on the frustrations of Carol Milford, a liberal free spirit from St. Paul, Minnesota, who marries Will Kennicott, a doctor from Gopher Prairie, who persuades her to settle there.  Stunned by the town’s conservative backward ways and lack of beauty, she gamely joins in and tries to liven things up and bring about progressive change, only to meet with derision from the in crowd.  She manages to find companionship outside her class, but these connections are gradually broken. Reaching bottom, she leaves her husband and moves to Washington, DC, but eventually returns, disappointed but undefeated. Not surprisingly, the book created a backlash when it was published; it was banned in Alexandria, MN. Some thought it exceptionally bleak and humorless.  Today it is listed number 68 by the Modern Library on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20^th century.

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