<p><span class="deck"> With the publication of his acid-etched but enormously popular portrait of the American small town, Sinclair Lewis emerged as the spokesman for a new literary generation</span> </p>
<p><span class="deck">He recreated with perfect pitch every tone of voice, every creak and rattle of an America that was disintegrating, even as it gave birth to the country we inhabit today.</span></p>
