The Profits of Religion: An Essay in Economic Interpretation.

The first of the “Dead Hand” series, The Profits of Religion, is a snapshot of the religious movements in the U.S. before its entry into World War I. Here, Sinclair attacks institutionalized religion as a “source of income to parasites, and the natural ally of every form of oppression and exploitation.” Reviewing several of the Dead Hand series, a contemporary critic wrote, "These great pamphlets…are storehouses of laborious research. They are indispensable to any student of present American life. I have heard Upton Sinclair charged with reckless, inaccurate and indiscreet use of his material. I am glad to say here that in my own experience I have found him scrupulously anxious, at whatever trouble to himself, to report the exact facts and to weigh carefully his judgments upon them. Why, then, have not these books the authority which they should have?…His explanation is oversimplified; he tends to see his facts in the light of a single motive."