ELMER GANTRY

Spreading the gospel, partaking of a drink or two, and making a few bucks--what could be more American? Adam Sims gives a tour-de- force performance, evocatively capturing Sinclair Lewis's keenly observed satire of the evangelical Christian movement of the early- twentieth-century Midwest. The corrupt, manipulative, completely indiscreet Elmer Gantry starts off as a college frat boy. As an adult, he sells farm implements and then becomes a nationally recognized minister and moral leader. Sims is especially adept at the characters' Midwestern accents as Gantry talks himself into and out of trouble with his wife, father-in-law, girlfriends, fellow pastors, and the police. Vibrant, slyly humorous, and thoroughly entertaining, Lewis's 1927 bestseller scandalized church leaders and was banned in Boston. A true American original. B.P. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: OCTOBER 2023]