.png)
New video
Some people are passive and never achieve their potential. Others work aggressively, struggling relentlessly upstream — and also never achieve their potential.
Maybe the secret is somewhere in between.
In the latter half of the nineteenth century, a young American boy was growing up among "sordid surroundings," as he later put it, with an alcoholic father and a long-suffering mother. After some minor success writing dime novels for boys while he was still a teenager himself, he attempted something literary — "the great American novel," as he put it — and fell flat on his face. Unable to get back into his routine of writing dime novels, he wound up living, he said, in "tents and shanties."
So far, so . . . not so good.
Fortunately for this aspiring writer — and for American history — the story did not end there.
Upcoming Lectures
"Welcome to The Jungle: Upton Sinclair’s Investigative Fiction"
August 29, 2025
1:00 p.m.
Chicago, Illinois
If you have questions, contact Mark at mark.canada@mindinclined.org
Join literary researcher Dr. Mark Canada and historian Chris Young for a Moving Experience tour: "Welcome to the Jungle: Upton Sinclair, Turn-of-the-Century Chicago, and Investigative Fiction." Novelist Upton Sinclair famously said of his best-known novel, The Jungle, an exposé of Chicago’s meat-packing industry, “I aimed at the public’s heart and by accident I hit it in the stomach.” In this Moving Experience tour of Chicago, we will explore the locations relevant to Sinclair's investigation during the turn of the century.
If you would like to ride the rented 55-seat bus which will drive from Kokomo, IN to Chicago at 7 A.M. on Friday, August 29, this experience includes lunch at Navy Pier before the tour begins at 1 P.M. and the cost is $175.
If you would like to meet us at Navy Pier at 1 P.M. to begin the tour, the cost is $40. The tour is estimated to end at about 4:30 P.M.
What do you want to do?
.png)
.png)
Participate
Mark speaks to academic and general audiences on a variety of topics in literature, history, and more. Lectures may be virtual or in-person and can be booked by emailing Mark.
Listen & Learn
Mark's Greatest Hits
Do you like American history? Philosophy? Literature? Business? An amazing narrator?
I finished these lectures in two days. You won't be disappointed.
Tim
One of the best
Huge Poe fan and you could absolutely tell Mark has a passion for the subject matter. Plus he's a great narrator! Would highly recommend this for anyone interested in learning more about Poe in a short amount of time.
Erin
So good!
Well-written and thoughtful, the essays are scholarly but still accessible.
Anonymous
So good!
Who is Dr. Mark Canada?
Mark Canada, Ph.D.
elevating minds for over 25 years
As an award-winning professor, he has taught everything from the Book of Genesis to Toni Morrison's Beloved. Now the chancellor of Indiana University Kokomo, he collaborates with faculty and staff to elevate students' lives through experiential learning. For more than a decade, he has been extending his influence beyond the classroom to elevate minds and lives through lectures, articles, and books, including the Audible Original Ben Franklin's Lessons in Life.
.png)
