King Midas was one of Upton Sinclair’s early novels, published in 1901 before the muckraking realism of The Jungle made him famous. A romantic allegory in the spirit of its title, the novel explores a talented young artist’s temptation to trade his artistic integrity for commercial success and social advancement — themes that would remain central to Sinclair’s work throughout his career.
An interesting early work from one of American literature’s great social critics, King Midas is freely available as a public-domain EPUB at Better Gutenberg.