The Jungle (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

FROM OUR EDITORS

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FROM THE PUBLISHER

Upton Sinclair￯﾿ﾽs muckraking masterpiece The Jungle centers on Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant working in Chicago￯﾿ﾽs infamous Packingtown. Instead of finding the American Dream, Rudkus and his family inhabit a brutal, soul-crushing urban jungle dominated by greedy bosses, pitiless con-men, and corrupt politicians.

While Sinclair￯﾿ﾽs main target was the industry￯﾿ﾽs appalling labor conditions, the reading public was most outraged by the disgusting filth and contamination in American food that his novel exposed. As a result, President Theodore Roosevelt demanded an official investigation, which quickly led to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug laws. For a work of fiction to have such an impact outside its literary context is extremely rare. (At the time of The Jungle￯﾿ﾽs publication in 1906, the only novel to have led to social change on a similar scale in America was Uncle Tom￯﾿ﾽs Cabin.)

Today, The Jungle remains a relevant portrait of capitalism at its worst and an impassioned account of the human spirit facing nearly insurmountable challenges.