But the ending is absurd considering that the "capitalist industrialists" are in fact socialists themselves (Carnegie, Morgan, Rothschild, Roosevelt, etc.) and that dehumanizing factories were not built until the era of socialist control over politics, economics, education, etc. (easily the Gilded Age but honestly back to the French Revolution).

Traditional, conservative economies had citizens who provided for themselves from the land or in the towns from an established craft whereas the machine-driven modern economy not only employs fewer individuals in any real meaningful labor but also deprives most people of the means for taking care of their families (landless wage slaves who know nothing of traditional life).

Haven't had a chance to read much of the book, but what I have read indicated the writer (Upton Sinclair) was truly a man with a attitude towards the society in which he lived. Don't think he liked his life. Realistic and hard hitting...yet those were the times in which he lived.

Living in a right-to-work state, you forget why we have unions. As a teenager, I read this book for school and fell in love with it. My parents and family were all union backers (teachers, firefighters, etc.), but I did not understand why we had unions. Then I read this book and ever since I have paid my union dues. Sinclair is an outstanding writer and I think everyone should read this book to understand where we have been and where we are now in labor. So read this book and cherish the life we have today.

I was very surprised to find myself enjoying this book. I was nervous that the language would be dated to a point of difficulty, or that it would be slower than a snail. But this is far from the truth. The writing is easy to follow and the characters very believable. Given that Sinclair based this novel on events and people he actually witnessed in the meat packing industry of Chicago more than 100 years ago, it only makes sense that the characters seem real. And just when you think this can't possibly get worse....yeah, it just did.

The only reason why I didn't give this novel 5 stars was how the story falls flat towards the end when Sinclair lapses into a Socialist manifesto. I didn't feel that it was being preachy, but rather the Socialist information was meant to be just that: information. Perhaps it could be argued that it is propaganda, given that this was originally written for a Socialist paper, and then put together as a novel to reach "the masses". Regardless, this can be overlooked because overall the story moves along nicely.

I found it very interesting, on the other hand, that Sinclair's writing had some racist leanings. For instance, his description of the southern black men that were recruited to work as scabs and his mention of big black men with daggers in their shoes standing next to young white women during the rowdy prize-fighting made me raise an eyebrow given the author's Socialist leanings. Perhaps I misunderstand what socialism is, but don't they support equality in society?

I do recommend that you read this book. It is a timeless piece of literature, and a reminder that these industries have not changed that much in our country. There are likely families living the modern day version of this.

I enjoyed reading The Jungle very much, it was a fantastic book written with great detail. This book should be read by every high school student before they graduate. Upton Sinclair does a great job describing the truths of life and how life in the workplace and factories is. I feel Sinclair did a marvelous job in his portrayal as the United States as a more humble place than most immigrants thought. The hardships and imperfections in the factories made the country humble and changed the perspective of those coming to live here.
The best part of the book is the result it had in America after it was written. After the publication of it, many reforms were created in order to improve lifestyles, health, and the economy. It also made me appreciate the meat inspection we have today, and all food inspections, and how sanitary life is today. As being a student currently, it was very easy to connect to this book and imagine what factory life was like.
The main character Jurgis sees America one way, and realizes it as a completly different way. Every vivid detail Sinclair includes not only affects Jurgis in the story, but the reader of the story. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone. It is a must read, especially for students. They need to see what the real world is like and that the US is not always as good as it is amped us to be.

At the time of Sinclair's writing, the food safety standards and the enforced codes for safe working conditions were almost completely abandoned. One critic has stated that "Sinclair's work was better left to reporters, but these were precisely the type of stories that reporters would not tell." Published at a time in which there were not writers designated to investigate and report significant issues occurring in an unaware society, muckrakers like Sinclair exposed the problems with the industrial machine, particularly in this industry, and inadvertently began to lead reform in this area. The novel does an incredible job of relaying the gravity of the problem through its somewhat graphic but very realistic descriptions and of opening the American public to this legitimate concern while simultaneously prompting the movement of response that was becoming so very necessary.

This can be argued to be one of the most influential books in our nation's history, as the effects of this book created the Meat Inspection Act and transformed health regulations for food businesses forever. With Upton Sinclair's vivid details of the horror of the meat-packing industry, he tried to hit Americans in the heart, but instead hit them in the stomach.
It all starts with Jurgis and Olna Rudkus's wedding in Chicago, after they had just arrived from Lithuania. Back in Lithuania, everyone pitches in to help pay for the wedding, but in Chicago everyone attended without slipping Jurgis and Olna a penny. This immediately changed their idea of the reality of the American Dream. They would now need to merely survive in a land that was a survival of the fittest and representative of "the jungle".
After their wedding, Olna was too frail and weak to work, leaving Jurgis and his children to have to provide for the family. Jurgis worked in the meat-packing industry where he was manipulated and robbed by the white business owners who paid him nearly nothing. In this job, he saw the corruption of capitalism and experienced the grotesque ways they handled their meat. If it was dropped on the floor, it was picked up and used again. The meat was stuffed with rats and many other objects to give it a certain look of chicken. Day after day, Jurgis was put through these conditions, while his children were also being used as property in child labor. His children were paid nothing for exhausting work, leaving the family wondering where their next meal would come from. The Jungle portrays the destruction of the Rudkus family, as they desperately try to achieve the American Dream. Olna dies, his children grow sick, and finally Jurgis begins to tire, as it seems that everything he does is not good enough in a land of corruption and evil. A family that came to America for a new beginning was now left with nothing, not even the family they came with.
Jurgis was walking through the streets of Chicago one day where his life suddenly changed forever. Inside one of the buildings, a socialist meeting was taking place. Jurgis listened intently for many hours, feeling for the first time since their arrival in the United States that there would be hope for the future. Socialism, he found, was the ingredient to surviving in the predator-prey society around him. This was the chance he had been waiting for, and now he was going to do everything in his power to see that this feeling of hope sustained.
Upton Sinclair wrote this book in 1905 when socialism was new and exciting for many immigrants and poor people living in the United States. This book demonstrates the true corruption of the American Dream and ideals of capitalism that destroy families like the Rudkus', who came for a better life. Upton Sinclair wanted to open the eyes of the public to the cruel business practices carried out by capitalist business and turn their ways toward Socialism for the future. He felt the only way for happiness in the United States was to turn to Socialism and give everyone a chance at success in the United States that was destroyed by the leaders in Capitalism.

I have read one third of the book. I like how the author institutes
scenes that depict a good possiblity of family life back then. Since the formation of the FDA and OSHA made the book famous, I'm thrilled to see the makings of a story that created this congressional action of long ago.

Sinclair's book changed history, business, finance, agriculture and more. What a breakthrough. He even inspired parts of my new novel, Uncle Juan's Cabin. Thanks, Upton!

I enjoyed this book for the real social problems it showcased from the time it was written. This particular printing was the fully restored version with extra chapters in it. There was a lengthy introduction about the book at the beginning and not having read it before, I wish I would have read that portion after I finished the book and not before. There were quite a few spoilers. Overall, this book made me sad, but it has a basis in reality, so what can you say? The end of the book was a diatribe of socialism and how it is the only logical form of government. I am not sure I agreed with all of it, but they made some very good points.

In closing, I have been revisiting the classics as an adult. So I am glad to have read this book. I had also read "Fast Food Nation", and now I see a lot of similarities to that book concerning the meat packing industry. If you believe all huge companies are altruistic, I recommend reading this book. It will give a better take on the world of business as power.

The first half of this book is a riveting story about immigrants working in the cattle stockades at the turn of the 19th to 20th century. I was involved with the main characters and their plight to work and survive in a capitalistic society. They were initially ignorant and taken advantage of. I won't reveal any more of the plot, but I would say the first half deserves 5 stars.

The second half of the book meanders around and I lost feelings for the main character. I would give the second part 1 star.

I do though highly recommend the book for shedding light on things that happened before to down trodden people and may be happening still in current third world countries.

If it wasn't for the fact that I needed the novel for a sociology class, I would have never purchased it. However it was an interesting take on the exposure on the early meat packing industry. A book that will take a bit of time to get through although not a difficult read at all. If you enjoy looking back on what life was like before your time, then you may enjoy.

No matter how many times I read "The Jungle" and no matter which edition I read, I find that Sinclair's descriptions of working immigrant class life in turn of the century Chicago to be outstandingly accurate and moving. To focus solely on the slaughter is to miss the more obvious 'slaughter' of a more dignified life not always afforded the immigrant worker. Indeed, "Jungle" is a profound political and social statement on the patrician attitudes towards immigrants. This novel should be required reading at the high school level.

In The Jungle Upton Sinclair conveys to the reader that the rigorous struggles of hardworking immigrants trying to achieve the American Dream are often futile, for the working man is only a victim in America's capitalistic workplace. This novel takes place at a town called Packingtown and it reveals common lifestyles of many people during an industrial revolution. There are several reasons why I personally did not enjoy this book. First of all, this story has no dynamic changes of moods and the tones of very depressing and dispirited are presented throughout the novel. The characters in the book struggle with numerous horrible obstacles that even I as a reader felt miserable for their lives. Secondly, a shocking revelation of meat packing factories' unsanitary schemes has greatly affected me to even mistrust today's sausages and canned food. I have put on a disgusted face expression and thought of a word "ewww..." while reading some pages in this book. Despite the disturbance of truthful facts, the author, Upton Sinclair, is a brilliant writer who uses many various rhetorical devices to present his message and the historical background information. This novel is great in a sense of giving clear insight details of our society's corruption that once existed. Although this book has made me get suspicious of our meat packing companies today, I recommend The Jungle to readers who are in high school or older since it does contain interesting contexts. People who did not yet have matured shouldn't read this book!

One of the best books I have ever read. Upton Sinclair draws you in, transporting you and your senses on a journey you will not soon forget. It is moral lesson and historical all at once. A great read - highly recommend.

I discovered this book only recently. It attracted my interest because I'm Polish, I was a butcher who worked in processing plants, I'm a writer and I lived somewhat the life of the "hobo" and wrote my own book entitled "Hobo-ing America" which dealt with much of the same material although in a much lighter and more humorous way, I was raised in an inner-city tenement slum area and I have been a laborer and worker most of my life. I didn't see anything not to like in this book other than I didn't write it. I enjoy reading history and I enjoy reading classics. This is both.
Interesting to note, though Upton wrote this book in hopes of changing conditions for working people, it only succeeded his changing conditions for the cows.

I discovered this book only recently. It attracted my interest because I'm Polish, I was a butcher who worked in processing plants, I'm a writer and I lived somewhat the life of the "hobo" and wrote my own book entitled "Hobo-ing America" which dealt with much of the same material although in a much lighter and more humorous way, I was raised in an inner-city tenement slum area and I have been a laborer and worker most of my life. I didn't see anything not to like in this book other than I didn't write it. I enjoy reading history and I enjoy reading classics. This is both.

Read the uncensored original edition, and it was interesting to see that the themes that pervaded the meatpacking industry in the early 1900's are similar to those of today if one ties in the recently written Fast Food Nation as the 21st century extension of this novel albeit without the novel ending socialist slant.

All of these books, whether non fiction or fiction based on fact present compelling cases that we Americans are ignorant when it comes to how are meat is processed. Since the US media is run by agenda driven individuals,companies, and special (and powerful) self interest groups, it is too bad that the general American public is not made aware of what we can expect in terms of the quality of meat, and its effect on the public, and how we can address and fix this problem.

But I have digressed from much of The Jungle. It is a book that is well written in many parts narrating the plight of the early 20th century immigrant and how large dominating corporations took advantage of the low level workers at that time. Fast Food Nation adds a 21st century view which ties the meatpackers industry with the fast food companies of today.

Coming to America to fulfill one's dream of wealth and happiness is but a pipedream to the many uneducated people that have come to the US on boats, rafts, or planes with no life savings. Working as "slave laborers" they find that they work to survive and have no other life. Jurgis the main character, comes to the US with family and friend members, works hard at the meatpacking plant and through one problem after another can never elevate himself or his family, finding himself and the family thrown onto the streets more than once.

Crime, booze, prostitution, politics, corruption and immigration are the recurring themes of this novel with an added bonus of getting Upton Sinclair's socialist slant during the final chapters to turn a very good diatribe on the "common workers" problems into a yawner and one where you willwant to turn the pages fast as the novel approaches the end.

One hunred years later, Sinclair's concept of Utopia (Socialism) and that the ideology works, as discussed through characters introduced towards the end of the novel is negated by the facts of history, and his introduction towards the end is strange as it does not flow with the balance of the story. However it may have been his way of finding a way to discuss socialism in an environment that would not tolerate it. And rightfully so as it provides a damper on the story.

But...if you can rip up the last 30-ish pages of the novel, the balance of the book stands up well.

Read the uncensored original edition, and it was interesting to see that the themes that pervaded the meatpacking industry in the early 1900's are similar to those of today if one ties in the recently written Fast Food Nation as the 21st century extension of this novel albeit without the novel ending socialist slant.

All of these books, whether non fiction or fiction based on fact present compelling cases that we Americans are ignorant when it comes to how our meat is processed. Since the US media is run by agenda driven individuals,companies, and special (and powerful) self interest groups, it is too bad that the general American public is not made aware of what we can expect in terms of the quality of meat, and its effect on the public, and how we can address and fix this problem.

But I have digressed from much of The Jungle. It is a book that is well written in many parts narrating the plight of the early 20th century immigrant and how large dominating corporations took advantage of the low level workers at that time. Fast Food Nation adds a 21st century view which ties the meatpackers industry with the fast food companies of today.

Coming to America to fulfill one's dream of wealth and happiness is but a pipedream to the many uneducated people that have come to the US on boats, rafts, or planes with no life savings. Working as "slave laborers" they find that they work to survive and have no other life. Jurgis the main character, comes to the US with family and friend members, works hard at the meatpacking plant and through one problem after another can never elevate himself or his family, finding himself and the family thrown onto the streets more than once.

Crime, booze, prostitution, politics, corruption and immigration are the recurring themes of this novel with an added bonus of getting Upton Sinclair's socialist slant during the final chapters to turn a very good diatribe on the "common workers" problems into a yawner and one where you willwant to turn the pages fast as the novel approaches the end.

One hunred years later, Sinclair's concept of Utopia (Socialism) and that the ideology works, as discussed through characters introduced towards the end of the novel is negated by the facts of history, and his introduction towards the end is strange as it does not flow with the balance of the story. However it may have been his way of finding a way to discuss socialism in an environment that would not tolerate it. And rightfully so as it provides a damper on the story.

But...if you can rip up the last 30-ish pages of the novel, the balance of the book stands up well.

This is a great book, published in 1906, especially from the historian's perspective. It was a book that after it was written, completely changed the Chicago stockyards. It was written about a Luthanian family who worked there during the beginning of the 20th century. Not many authors can be credited with writing a book that changed laws (The Pure Food and Drug Act (1906) is a direct result of the publication of this book). You have to appreciate a book that had such a monumental impact on many people's lives. The stockyards in Chicago were so bad... and this book brought it to light, not just in Chicago but nationally as well. Last year (2006) it was it's 100th year anniversary. It's a GREAT book and I highly recommend it.

Following the life in America of Jurgis Rudkos delivers tears and hatred which makes the reader want to get up and shout - at those who employ him and at Jurgis as well.

Working in the stockyards of Chicago was hell, the worst time being in the fertilizer division's charnel house where malodorous bone dust swirled about to limit visibility to five feet and intoxicated his every sense of taste and smell. And, after the phosphates layered themselves onto his skin and clothes, he returns home with a stench that cannot be washed out . The smell is so badly terminal that his later imprisonment includes a statement by his roomie - a well worn professional thief - that never before has he smelled anything so bad in the "pen."

But, the place of employment is not the only one at fault. Jurgis, uneducated and well meaning, has to be responsible for his actions as well - he beats the pulp out of an Irish crony who sexually violated Jurgis's wife. In turn, he is imprisoned for a month - during which time the family loses its savings, its home, and their jobs at the plant.

In the first 200 pages, his life sinks deeper and deeper into the abyss. He recovers for a short time when he cow tows to the Irish politicians and makes a few bucks. But, another fight and imprisonment return him to the streets, this time on the lam, from which he becomes a common beggar who is embraced by his long lost sister - now a junky prostitute with enough money to keep her children out of the packing house and in school.

So, with this horrible tale of America, the book ends with about 40 pages of Jurgis's Socialist Manifesto. Remember, in 1906 - when this book was written - Marx and Engels and the like were hot. Really hot. Their writings were received here and in Russia with great fanfare - even if the edenistic portrayal was inaccurate, the life led by the proletariat could not be any worse. The followers rallied to the cry of a better life with better returns for their wages. To those who gave bomb reviews of this book because it was Socialistic propaganda, take note that things were different then and Socialism was one method of reform to be discussed to end the plight of workers like Jurgis.

Ultimately, a truce was made - not in small part because of this book. Federal regulations increased and the industrial giants had to respond to someone other than those silenced by local graft - they had to meet health requirements and more. This incurred more expense, which hurt their bottom line. And, with industrial safety regulations increasing at this time, the wage earning slaves like Jurgis would be less traumatically harmed as the Dante-like workplaces like the fertilizer division's hot rooms of dust would be forbidden.

The fact that this book elicited such political response is most impressive. The writing is equally impressive. The story line is Dickens-like magnificent. This is a must read.

This book is wonderful in itself. This new, revised (more like unrevised!) edition more like the original that Sinclair yearned for, gives this man and work of genius due credit. The book laments of human society and our propensity to greed and suffering. But, Sinclair declares, it doesn't have to be that way. There can be hope, empathy, and love in the most dire of situations.

Although I'll always view Sinclair as a poor mans Steinbeck,'The Jungle' was his finest hour,and marked a shift away from the sentamentalist view of the working and ruling classes of Dickens et al who saw redemption of their poverty through magnaminity of the elite and a bit of education for a saintly group of hard working people.'The Jungle' had enormous political impact,but for the first time aimed at the exploiters without pulling punches.
Sinclair explored the instinctive brutality of man, the exploitation of the worker in a supposedly free society and he lifted up Americas capitalist carpet to show the comfortably off what was under it, as well as what was being put on their dinner plates!
This book is far better than Sinclairs later work which became far too preachy, and became devalued owing to his misguided lauding of communism/socialism and uncritical stance of its own brand of brutal exploitation of the working man and woman.
Without doubt,'The Jungle' was a key stone novel which opened up the way for writers such as Steinbeck and the incomparable 'Grapes of Wrath'

This was a somewhat difficult book for me to read. I found it very slow alot of the time but that aside, it is very interesting and very sad. I am glad I read it.

I tried reading The Jungle on my own as a self-propelled venture to explore the greatest or most important novels of the 20th Century.

Now, I found this book in a book store, and was intrigued by what I read about it from other sources. (Internet, the always trustworthy quotes on the ostentatious special anniversary sleeve, etc.)

It wasn't until I actually tried reading it, it was then that I had passed the figurative event horizon: I got caught in the maelstrom and lost the Falconer. (Purely puerile melodrama... ^_^)

Anyways...

I was surprised, unpleasantly, to find no dialogue in this book. I found myself reading through the first chapters actually waiting for the characters to develop themselves, and not have Upton tell me about them, or infer or interpret their actions and feelings, etc for me. (First rule of writing: Trust in your work, trust in your readers.) I found there to be no way to attenuate my ennui from having my hand held throughout the story of jejune characters and their sub-standard living and working conditions, save the occasional tour through the slaughterhouse. But even that was absent of lyrical and rhetoric minutaie that could have captured my interest and sustained me long enough to finish this whole story. And it's a little frustrating when the author insists on telling you "You can't help but humanize these pigs." I'm pretty sure that we could have done that ourselves, without your sprinkling your metaphor cliffnotes. (PS: The addition of Cliffnotes, or explanation of your own works is what lowered the initial intrinsic value of T.S. Eliot's Wasteland. But that was before Upton's time, so it's not HIS fault.)

To all those that perpetuate the "historical significance" of this book: WE GET IT! But believe me, this is no "Uncle Tom's Cabin." (And even that was a gross over-exaggration used to blanket a finite dissection of Pharisee-esque and, as far as economic afairs are concerned, irrational Southern slave owners.) I do agree that everyone in high school should read this, if not for anything but to prove that you can write something so artless and jejune containing nothing more than puerilely acerbic glutting and still be considered a great success and important figure in the history of the great benefit of future American generations. (At this point I would like to point out that I have said the previous statement with a facetious undertone. I'm not sure if you could tell, but if you liked this book and found it helpful throughout the book, then: Your welcome! ^_^)

To summarize, reading this book was like watching a cheap horror movie that was a collaborated attempt by both Michael Moore and Michael Bay: cheap story filled with glutting into the Socialist agenda where you try and look past it for the macabre pot-of-gold at the end of this oil-stain rainbow, but are ultimately disappointed when you realize that there is as much substance to this story as any Michael Bay or Michael Moore film, and definitely worth only a minute fraction of the amount of time you would spend watching either of their films.

IF you do happen to enjoy either of those ingenuous Pharisees, then you will definitely love this book.

You've been warned.

PS: If you do want to see a movie with the same Socialist propoganda, but with alot better gore, watch George Romero's Land of the Dead. Slightly more entertaining.

This was a somewhat difficult book for me to read. I found it very slow alot of the time but that aside, it is very interesting and very sad. I am glad I read it.

This review was written by Leopold McGinnis. It is posted courtesy of the Underground Literary Alliance Book Review Blog.

It's hard to review a book of such immense scope, ambition and craft. Upton Sinclair's The Jungle is arguably one of the best American books of the 20th century (not so difficult a distinction to achieve, it would seem, considering the dearth of quality fiction in the latter half of said century), it's also, sadly, one of the most forgotten.

Written like fiction, Sinclair's book ostensibly follows the story of Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian who, with several members of his family, come to Chicago on the tail of the American Dream and find themselves working in the nightmare of the Slaughterhouse district. But in effect The Jungle is an epic look at the obscene cost of unfettered capitalism run rampant in the early 20th century. Sinclair's book is a muckraking expose of the institutionalized inequality, corruption, privilege, sickness and slavery needed to keep the machine running that runs beneath he thin veneer of the American dream of freedom and success. A fascinating and incredibly thorough indictment of the out-of-control capitalist structure at the turn of the century The Jungle, sadly, rings true in a number of areas today.

Jurgis starts off firmly believing in the American dream, even while working in slave-like conditions for the meat packers, brushing off the arguments of broken men and unionists that the machine will eventually crush him as the bitter ramblings of lazy and weak men It's this stubborn arrogance that carries Jurgis through the unceasing volley of injustices that make up the entirety of the book. The Rudkus', due to their innocence and desperation, get swindled into 'buying' a 'new' house where they pay an exorbitant amount every month, but never own the house until it is all paid off. If they miss one payment the house, and all their payments go back to the landowner, who repaints the house and sells it as 'new' to the next batch of immigrants. The threat of losing their house becomes the greatest chain their carry and in service of it every member of their extended family, including the grandparents and children, works to survive.

It's a losing battle, of course, and work in the packinghouses brings poverty, disease, death, injury, injustice, rape, jail and exploitation to the Rudkus family. With no other options and a thousand men clamoring at the gate for their job, the Rudkus family works endless hours in mind-numbing, incredibly dangerous work. Here Jurgis gets first hand experience of the inevitable 'short-cuts' that arise from profit-driven enterprises. In the drive for even a half-penny of profit spoiled meat is bribed past inspectors, men are crushed and killed, waste is driven wholesale into public drinking water and, like the meat the process, every ounce of worth in a human being is taken before being discarded in favor of fresh meat. Early on Jurgis is impressed with the way in which the packers have set up their enterprise to squeeze every possible amount of wealth possible from a pig. Jurgis also is glad that he is not a pig - only to realize at the end that he and all the working men were treated as cruelly and as senselessly as the animals, driven to the point of death to churn out meat faster and faster and then discarded.

Work in the Slaughterhouse district covers most of the book and the novel is currently being sold as an expose of the meat packing industry. This is a simplification and probably stems from, in the current timid literary circles, a fear to mention the dreaded word 'socialism' or believe that the entire system may be corrupt, rather than just where the wound festers most. The second half of the book follows Jurgis after he escapes from the Slaughterhouse, a shell of the man he once was, his family, wife and son dead in service to the Packer's profits. The book is quite uplifting when he finally leaves to hobo it across the country on trains. The first day he spends in the woods, washing in a lake and sleeping in the sun is probably one of the most uplifting scenes in the book and an unforgettable illustration of how it is better to be a homeless vagrant than in service of the Trusts. Jurgis, for a while, is free. But the nature of seasonal farm work, leaving him without a home in the winter, eventually drives him back to the city.

Jurgis scrapes by at first by begging on the streets. Eventually he finds himself working on a massive secret underground railway being built by the Packers Trust to break the Teamsters union! But an accident at work puts him back on the street. Starving to death, Jurgis finds himself in Jail. By this point Jurgis has adopted an attitude much more likely to achieve the American Dream: looking out only for himself. Jurgis becomes involved in crime, eventually moving up into the very corrupt political and Trust circles that run the wage-prisons of the slaughterhouse district. He helps fix an election, crush a strike and generally be on the operating end of all the corruption and sleaze he once suffered under. But like everything else, once his purpose has been served, he's back on the streets again.

Perhaps the biggest weaknesses of this novel are the opening and ending. The first chapter is an overly long description of a wedding ceremony. Although it serves to introduce a lot of the characters and their hopes and desires, it's too much at once with little reason for the reader to care or understand the significance of this event at the time. The book could have easily started at chapter 2. The book ends with Jurgis finally understanding the corrupt system in all its parts (indeed, we do too as through Jurgis Sinclair has hit upon every nail and exposed every interlinking thread of corruption) and becomes involved in the growing socialist movement to overthrow the corrupt two parties of the two-party political system and begin with a system that is actually fair. This end of the book, though I mostly agree with it, is a bit preachy and, with 100 years of foresight, perhaps a bit naively optimistic. The book also ends somewhat abruptly. It's a thematic book, to be sure, and so it's ok to end with the theme rather than the end of Jurgis' story, but Sinclair does such a fantastic job of getting us into the story of Jurgis, it's hard to see him dropped at the end for the point to be made.

But these are slight weaknesses in an otherwise amazing book. The Jungle is the type of novel no longer made. The book has teeth and a point to prove, right from the onset. It seems that it is now taboo for analysis or criticism of society to come from works of fiction. If anything The Jungle is the perfect example of a fictional story illustrating a point much more clearly than non-fiction could hope to. The novel isn't didactic or polemic anymore than a documentary is and the reader is smart enough to understand that this is both a work of fiction and an incredibly insightful and truthful expose of the devastating pitfalls of unfettered capitalism. Sometimes studying was is possible provides more insight than what is.

Sadly, due to a lot of interlocking commercial and class interests in the literary industry similar to those documented by Mr. Sinclair, books like this are unlikely to be found in the mainstream circles anymore. Though the problems outlined in The Jungle have been lessened in the century since its publication, there is still work to do. Authors of this day have many equally important things to write about and we too can hope to make continued change through our writing and activism. To tweak the phrase that closes Mr. Sinclair's book, "We shall bear down the opposition, we shall sweep it before us - and [literature] will be ours! [Literature] will be ours! [LITERATURE] WILL BE OURS!

The Jungle is a fantastic book for anyone interested in social criticism, or just a good read. Certainly it will be inspiring to writers who hope to achieve something by their writing.

The Jungle does what far too few (if any) books these do these days.

This "original" edition is not "better," and "uncensored." Sinclair made a number of changes of his own accord in the second, shorter publication. It does not mean this book was "censored." It was never "censored" in the first place, as the publishers here claim it to be. It means that the original edition was changed so that it may better fit the format of a book. Buy the original edition if you must, because this edition is less focused, packed with more socialist propaganda and a few extra scenes that do not contribute to the novel or its message in anyway. Some character names are completely different, as well, leading to confusion when comparing the two editions. If you want a novel, don't buy this edition. Get this one only if you're interested in the original serial that was published before the novel came out, complete with typographical errors that were "purposely unedited" so that it may reflect the typos in the "uncensored" rough-draft.

People who read Christopher Phelps review of this edition need to keep in mind that he has his own competing edition of The Jungle, published by Bedford/St Martin's and so he may have his own reasons for trashing this edition, beyond a belief in the purity of the 1906 commecial edition. For example, Mr. Phelps says "Just one problem: none of the sensational claims made on behalf of the See Sharp edition is true. The Jungle was not censored. Sinclair did not revise the text to meet the coercive demands of a commercial publisher." These statements are clearly false. Sinclair was pressured by his first publisher Macmillan to make extensive changes in the text. After making these changes, Macmillan went ahead and cancelled his contract anyway. Later Sinclair got a contract with Doubleday, Page, and again the editors required extensive changes. So to say that Sinclair was not pressured by his publishers is false. This is just one of several points that Prof. Phelps would like you to ignore.