THE JUNGLE

The Jungle



The Jungle

Introduction

The Jungle is indisputably Upton Sinclair's best and most influential book. He was, nevertheless, never entirely happy with its reception. While it contributed to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906 and other consumer protection legislation, his intent was to lay bare the capitalist system and demonstrate the need for democratic socialism.

The abuses in the meatpacking industry were known before the publication of The Jungle (Sinclair, 2003). In the 1898 intervention in Cuba, some three thousand American soldiers died from eating canned beef, and (soon to be President) Theodore Roosevelt himself testified ...