Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    The Jungle
    Unavailable
    The Jungle
    Unavailable
    The Jungle
    Ebook491 pages8 hours

    The Jungle

    By Upton Sinclair

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    Listen to the audiobook instead

    About this ebook

    Jurgis and his family move to Chicago from Lithuania to find a better life. But what they find instead are abysmal working conditions, corrupt legal systems, and chronic poverty. The family gets jobs in Chicago's meatpacking district, Packingtown, and works long hours for low pay. Jurgis is injured on the job and isn't given workers' compensation. His wife is raped by her boss and forced into prostitution. As his family suffers through hardship after hardship, Jurgis wonders if bringing them to America was a huge mistake. First published in 1906, this is an unabridged version of Upton Sinclair's muckraking novel criticizing the exploitation of Chicago's immigrants. The horrifying descriptions of the health violations of the early 20th century meatpacking industry inspired the groundwork legislation for today's Food and Drug Administration.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLerner Publishing
    Release dateJan 1, 2016
    ISBN9781512405422
    Author

    Upton Sinclair

    Upton Sinclair (1878-1968) was an American writer from Maryland. Though he wrote across many genres, Sinclair’s most famous works were politically motivated. His self-published novel, The Jungle, exposed the labor conditions in the meatpacking industry. This novel even inspired changes for working conditions and helped pass protection laws. The Brass Check exposed poor journalistic practices at the time and was also one of his most famous works.  As a member of the socialist party, Sinclair attempted a few political runs but when defeated he returned to writing. Sinclair won the Pulitzer Prize in 1943 for Fiction. Several of his works were made into film adaptations and one earned two Oscars.

    Read more from Upton Sinclair

    Related to The Jungle

    Titles in the series (100)

    View More
    View More

    Related ebooks

    Classics For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Shock Therapy

      Jun 8, 2021

      Shock Therapy
      15 min read

    • Article

      On Za'atar

      Oct 15, 2021

      On Za'atar
      14 min read

    • Article

      The Social Picnic

      May 15, 2022

      The Social Picnic
      2 min read

    • Article

      It Had To Be Stew

      May 22, 2022

      It Had To Be Stew
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Resister

      Feb 23, 2018

      The Resister
      6 min read

    • Article

      Ghost Girl, Banana

      Aug 21, 2023

      By the time I was 25, there were only two things I remembered about Mumma. The first was that she smelled of watermelons, the second was that we were happy. We’d taken our father’s name of course, but a name is only half a story. The other half exist

      6 min read

    • Article

      A Parsonage in New Hope

      Dec 4, 2023

      A Parsonage in New Hope
      12 min read

    • Article

      Along Forgotten Paths

      Jun 5, 2019

      Along Forgotten Paths
      7 min read

    • Article

      Too Much, Magic Bus

      Dec 9, 2019

      Too Much, Magic Bus
      8 min read

    • Article

      Stranger Places

      Aug 9, 2018

      It began like any normal pregame in the woods. Naked, alone, hungover, a sweaty sleeping bag in the back of a dusty pickup truck, miles from civilization. Predawn in a narrow Utah river bottom, canyon country, early July. A Thermos of lukewarm coffee

      18 min read

    • Article

      Christmas In Ushuaia

      Jun 10, 2021

      All people have had ill luck, but Jairus’s daughter and Lazarus had the worst. Mark Twain Laz pulled the parka closer to his body, ineffectually trying to ward off the gelid wind that blew from the mountains. Argentina was supposed to be warm in late

      10 min read

    • Article

      The Herero

      Nov 29, 2022

      The Herero
      5 min read

    • Article

      Two Poems

      Nov 1, 2018

      Our house in the 100-year flood plainflooded. They say thatfor another 800 years a hurricanelike this will not come. My internetis down and my smart phone hurts my thumbsarthritic. I’m running out of data.All my books are in boxes. Please referto my

      3 min read

    • Article

      Peace Comes With A Smile

      Nov 11, 2019

      Peace Comes With A Smile
      8 min read

    • Article

      Speedboat

      Mar 24, 2022

      Nobody died that year. Nobody prospered. There were no births or marriages. Seventeen reverent satires were written – disrupting a cliché and, presumably, creating a genre. That was a dream, of course, but many of the most important things, I fi nd,

      14 min read

    • Article

      Southern Stand

      Mar 16, 2020

      Southern Stand
      5 min read

    • Article

      Testaments Of Youth

      Mar 9, 2022

      The majority of adults believe they become better people as they grow older. So said the Harvard psychologist Daniel Schacter, in his excellent study The Seven Sins of Memory (2001). But that process, he adds, requires us to mark down our younger sel

      3 min read

    • Article

      My Glorious Dog Days

      Nov 16, 2022

      My Glorious Dog Days
      3 min read

    • Article

      Paddling Through History

      Jun 15, 2023

      Paddling to DeCourcy Island is at the top of my summer activities wish list. The Southern Gulf Island region is steeped in thousands of years of culture and history for the Snuneymuxw, Stz’uminus, Lyackson, Halalt, and Penelakut First Nations. DeCour

      9 min read

    • Article

      Young Hearts…

      Oct 24, 2017

      Young Hearts…
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Museum at Auschwitz

      Feb 5, 2019

      The Museum at Auschwitz
      6 min read

    • Article

      Reviews

      Jul 15, 2021

      Reviews
      6 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Iľja Rákoš

      Dec 12, 2021

      As long as there are authors, translators, publishers large or small committed to the deliberate word deliberately committed to the page, and so many who still need those words on pages, legal or illegal, right, left, or center, we’ll find our feet a

      8 min read

    • Article

      Experiencesof A Lifetime

      May 18, 2022

      Experiencesof A Lifetime
      4 min read

    Reviews for The Jungle

    4/5

    1,530 ratings61 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      This is a shocking story about the meat packing industry. The things that ended up in the meat. It was also hard to hear what the workers went through and how this family struggled just to survive. How their food was filled with nasty things, how people swindled them. It was a hard life back then for immigrants. Very good book to learn a little bit about America's history.
    • 4/5
      An oldie but goodie. I noticed the condition of the characters much more than I did in the past. It is a sad story all areound of survival of the fittest.
    • 3/5
      As a novel, this book is less than perfect. The protagonist is more of a plot device than a character. In spite of that, I am glad I read this book as historical fiction, and as an important work that led to food safety reforms. The author was hoping for labour law reform, but his work nonetheless provides a chilling perspective into the food industry and it is not surprising that it created a push for reform. In my view, it is worth reading.
    • 2/5
      It is impossible for me to review this without appearing to be pissy. The work itself is barely literary. The Jungle explores and illustrates the conditions of the meatpacking industry. Its presence stirred outcry which led to much needed reforms. Despite the heroics of tackling the Beef Trust, Upton Sinclair saw little need in the actual artful. The protagonist exists only to conjoin the various pieces of reportage. There isn't much emotional depth afforded, the characters' motivations often appear skeptical. I was left shaking my head on many a turn, especially towards the end where entire speeches from the American Socialist party compete with esoteric findings of left-leaning social scientists from the era (around 1905).

      Despite these shortcomings as a novel, the opening half is often harrowing. Graphic descriptions of hellish work conditions, poor food quality and lack of social safety net reached towards a very personal conclusion: I am EVER so grateful that I didn't live 110 years ago and was forced to compete economically under those conditions.
    • 5/5
      This book could be called the prequel to Fast Food Nation. Written in 1906 it is ammazing to see how the poor and uneducated are used for fodder by the beef trust. One feels the struggles of Jurgis and his family. This is trily a classic that holds the reader even today.
    • 5/5
      I am so glad that I have read this book... but what a hard journey it was. I am a Health and Safety Professional and this book underscored why I am doing what I do for a living. The horrible conditions (not to mention the food quality and ethics issues (which fit right in to my Vegetarian leanings!!))... the horrible abuse of human labor for the sake of enriching the already too rich. A very eye-opening book. I wasn't sure I would be able to make it through to be honest. It was just very hard to read. Death, suffering, sadness, hopelessness. the book is a brilliant picture of the times - you can't not be changed by reading and listening to your heart as you read it. I plan to read it again someday... which is funny because I wasn't sure if I could finish it! But once I got past the horror, the message of the book rung true.
    • 5/5
      This is a book that I love. I read it when I was living in the woods of Wisconsin after being abused on a job by a miserly old small town employer bully.The story is described in the introduction of the copy with this cover as being rather thin and superfluous to its intent to expose the plight of the workers as a group. The characters are meant to be composites and are merely used to illustrate social conditions. This kind of analysis deadens the emotional impact of the struggling protagonist and his families plight.It is always noted that this book spawned reforms in the meatpacking industry not over the cost of human suffering but just the unwholesome product that was exposed in the revolting manner in which the food was being produced.
    • 5/5
      I love this book. I was a bit apprehensive about the narration as in some places it takes on "Hawthorne-ish" type of over narration, but as I got a little further into The Jungle I realized that there was a point behind it other than the author wanting to be a showy wordsmith. Delving further into the book Mr. Sinclair becomes a master at bringing one into the brutality, inhumanity, and unsanitary conditions of the stockyards, but also the people who are forced by life's conditions to work there. The story focuses on one Lithunanian family and the trials that they endure trying to get along in America. I was not sure which I felt more, the agonizing defeat that this family must have felt in the condition that they were thrown into, or the strong desire I have to become vegetarian. I hope that this book will be as widely read in the next 100 years as it has been for the last 100 years.
    • 5/5
      This book is positively amazing- I was about ready to become a Socialist at the end. Basically what we have is the incredible story of what America was doing to its immigrants, and it wasn't pretty. Yes, the meat packing stuff was gross, but it wasn't even the most disturbing part (plus it makes great quotation material when you want to annoy people at dinner). I was most upset about the saga of how the family was starved out of their house. We need to see what corperate America was doing to immigrant Americans (and undoubtably still is).
    • 5/5
      Great classic novel about the struggle of European emigrants in the meat processing industry of early 20th century Chicago.
    • 4/5
      A good book which inspired a nation to take a closer look at meat packaging plants. However, it did get a little to preachy about Socialism at times for my tastes.
    • 5/5
      Sinclair tries to enlist our sympathy and support for the socialist cause. But mostly what we bring away from this book is the horrifying conditions in the meatpacking industry, and the heart-rending plight of the immigrant worker. As he once said, he aimed for our hearts and got our stomachs instead.
    • 5/5
      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.
    • 3/5
      I didn't find it as disgusting as people have said but still interesting.
    • 3/5
      I'd been very pleasantly surprised when I'd read "Fast Food Nation", but I wasn't aware how much that book owes to The Jungle. This is a powerful book; it opens our eyes to the gruesome meatpacking business and the struggles of poor immigrants.Unfortunately, after the first half, The Jungle spirals down. It becomes an exercise in sadism, where everything you can imagine could go wrong will, and then, near the end, it's all redeemed by a couple dozen pages of communist wishful thinking. Still a valuable book, but one with diminishing returns.
    • 5/5
      I decided to read this as one of those books I have heard of as classics, but I had never read. I anticipated that these books would be things to wade through. I could not have been more surprised. I didn't want to put it down. It was fascinating and if I had not known when it was written, I would have thought it was contemporary. I did think it ended rather abruptly, but I couldn't put it down.
    • 5/5
      Part family narrative, and part political discourse, Upton Sinclair's 'The Jungle' has a clearly defined appeal to both these camps of interested readers, but if either camp is looking for a book devoted to their respective interest, they may be disappointed. This is not meant as a criticism, but rather praise for what Sinclair crafted in the telling of this story, which follows the horrors endured by an immigrant family coming to America for the 'working man's dream' only to be ground under the wheels of corporate greed, crooked politicians, and a careless capitalist society. Some readers may wish to distinguish the two different parts of the book, but considering Sinclair's goals in the crafting of this book, I think the different parts of this book should be understood as inseperable. There have been other books about the plight of immigrant workers, and yet other books about socialism and political commentary, but Sinclair's is different in that it is a very human tale. Without the emotional investment in the characters and their struggles as complete people, the latter stages of the book would not resonate as they do, and in hindsight, it is rather clear that the early parts of the book are to serve the latter, more political parts. And while in the United States we like to believe things have changed with our industrial regulations, whether or not one is to subscribe to this belief all one has to do to find the world Sinclair describes is look out to developing nations and the horrors many of their laborers endure in this current day. In that regard 'The Jungle' is still relevant, and remains a needed portrait of the experiences of people considered by larger economic forces to be 'expendable' labor. I for one did prefer the earlier, less political, stages of the book, as the message is relayed through the narrative events, and, in my opinion, most vividly when the main character, Jurgis, decides to work for the forces of corruption that had led to so much ruin in his life. When he sees the hollow, disgusting- although profitable- charade of that life, the book then moves into its final arc, which is overt political lecturing. Regardless of one's particular interest, this remains an important book, and an excellent exercise of prose.
    • 3/5
      Well, second time to read the book, June 2016, first time was July 2010. 1001 reference book states "this is not the first muckraking novel, but one of the most influential novels. It was used politically by Roosevelt to pass the Pure Food and Drug Act. It states that this book is based on real incidents in 1904 stockyard worker's strike. It is a manifesto for social change." In this book, the United States is not the place for the immigrant. It is the tale of Jurgis Rudkus, an immigrant from Lithuania. When you read this stuff, you have to wonder why anyone would leave their homeland. This is a story of one failed dream after another. The other presents socialism as the beacon of hope. Perhaps, this book was a wake up call to the democrats and republican parties. I don't know but according to this book, the socialist made great strides. Anyway, I still dislike this book. I hate that business was so awful to people and I know that is the very reason's unions and socialism had such surges as they did but I just hate that people would be so greedy. But mostly, I dislike this book because it is such a lot of preaching. The story of the man and his family, if told in true Dickensian fashion, would have made a great story. I listened to the audio the second time and it was read well and made a good alternative to reading it for a second time.
    • 4/5
      If you want to read about happiness, Upton Sinclair probably isn't the author for you. The lesson taken away from the book was how food should be inspected by the government, but the lesson meant was the horrible working and living conditions people were forced to live in, and that something should be done about them.
    • 5/5
      The Jungle was a reread for me. The story was as bleak as I remember. Jurgis Rudkus sees his family abused, exploited and ripped apart by the Stockyards of Chicago in the early 1900s. The story details their lives and tragedies after they immigrate to the US from Lithuania.Upton Sinclair’s description of the unsanitary conditions of the meat-packers assisted in passage of both the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Beef Inspection Act, although the conditions of the packing plants were only a brief mention in the novel. Sinclair’s primary purpose was to publicize the working conditions, “wage slavery,” and advocate for socialism. Sinclair’s quote, included in Robert B. Downs’ Afterword of the Signet Classic 1960 edition, is an apt description of what happened instead, “I aimed at the public’s heart and by accident I hit it in the stomach.”This is a classic American novel that should be read. Be aware that there are racial epithets and prejudice included in the novel.
    • 3/5
      The first three quarters of the book held my attention, and dragged me into the world of hard work, exhaustion, and hopelessness that the protagonist faced. The last quarter of the book seemed to drag on forever. I kept nodding off while reading, and was genuinely disappointed that the spirit of the book and the whole theme seemed to change just for the last few chapters. Although disappointed with the ending, the majority of the book was descriptive, thought-provoking and an overall good read.
    • 5/5
      The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is a book that I wish I'd read years ago. The lessons contained within are heartbreaking, unimaginable and essential. The writing was precise, descriptive and affecting. While I didn't exactly enjoy this incredibly depressing book, it was one of the most powerful books I've read.I know that many reviews complain about Sinclair's Socialist lean, as he does make it very apparent in the last 50 pages that he believes Socialism is the way to avoid the problems depicted in this book, namely the abuse of worker's by the bosses, poverty in general, the link between poverty and crime and the stigma against immigrants.To me, the protagonist's progression to Socialism made sense, was certainly backed up and was important to the overall text. I'm not sure how so many people seem to separate it from the text and say things like, “Oh, I loved it...except for that last Socialist bit in the end.” Perhaps they are the same sort of people who 'love' The Diary of Anne Frank. You know, except for that whole depressing holocaust part.
    • 4/5
      Welp, that was cheerful.The story follows an immigrant man and his family trying to survive in the packing district of turn-of-the-century Chicago, and details the corruption and filth of the packing companies and the devastating lives the workers led. Fascinating and horrible. And important. And not, horrifyingly, without certain relevancies today. My one quibble: the ending gets bogged down in a description of socialism and then ends much too abruptly. Otherwise, a solid - if not happy - read.
    • 4/5
      I attempted reading this book when I was about fourteen years old, but soon gave it up. Now, having read it all the way through, I have a huge appreciation for this masterpiece. Sinclair wrote the truth, and unveiled a world of corruption and poverty plaguing 19th century society. It provoked President Roosevelt to create the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act, and brought forth new safety and health standards for the workforce that stood as a foundation for the ones we hold today. Sinclair's writing is centered around the character Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant with hopes of making it big in America. He, along with his family and the woman he plans on marrying, Ona, travel to Chicago, where it is said that fortunes are made. However, the evil of this society, with the all-powerful The Beef Trust and political machines, drive them into poverty and despair. The family, unaware of the ways of this capitalist America, gets kicked down at every opportunity. And as their savings from the Old Country dwindles, taken away by cruel, thieving agents who exploit their ignorance, their spirit and hope fade away as well. With the entire family working 16 hours a day and still not making enough to survive, they experience death, tragedy, unemployment, and desperation. The descriptions of the atrocities Sinclair describes are disturbing and, for me, were previously unimaginable. One finds no chance of hope or success in their struggle till finally, when Jurgis has absolutely nothing left for him, he discovers Socialism.This book has made a powerful impact on my view of the American workplace. I found myself enraptured by the vivid descriptions of the struggles of these immigrants, and feeling a great remorse for their losses. Although the ending of the novel is controversial among literary critics, I found it to be a suitable and solid close to the historical and truthful brilliance of Sinclair’s greatest work.
    • 2/5
      I don't generally review the "classic" titles I read, because who the hell am I? But I wanted to tackle this one. Bear in mind that I seldom, if ever, enjoy a novel with a Message. The Jungle, of course, is the famous muckraking novel that brought the horrific conditions of the Chicago stockyards to the public eye. Good for it.The protagonist is Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant who personally faces every possible indignity that a worker could suffer under capitalism. The parade of horribles actually became funny after awhile: of course one of his relatives turns to whoring. Of course another is eaten by rats. Jurgis and the other characters are so thinly drawn, and the episodes so clearly crafted to make a point, that I felt no emotional involvement, not even outrage. Granted, if the book were telling me something I didn't already know, the outrage factor might have come into play, but I was reading it as a novel, not a report.I have never read a book that more clearly called out for one more chapter. The book ends with Jurgis, homeless, hungry and freezing, stumbling into a socialist meeting. He is an instant convert to the cause and is taken in by the kindly socialist owner of a hotel. The last 20 pages or so consist of a group of men debating various points of socialist theory, and Jurgis disappears from the narrative completely. But here's my ending, and it absolutely fits with the rhythm of the book. Throughout the novel, Jurgis plugs away against adversity and always thinks he has finally caught a break. Then the other shoe drops and life sucks once again. So, he falls in with these nice socialists and instead of a worldwide worker's revolution he encounters: Terror. Torture. The Gulags. Fooled again!
    • 5/5
      meticulously researched “fiction” about a Lithuanian family who immigrates to Chicago around 1900 and ends up working in the filthy meatpacking plants in the Yards. this is a hugely important book in the history of many movements including child labor, food safety, social justice, Socialism, labor unions, workers’ rights… and is an engaging, sympathetic story about one man, on top of it all. I keep coming back to it.
    • 3/5
      It's ironic that Sinclair's intention in writing "The Jungle", dedicated "To the Workingmen of America", was to shine a light on the difficult conditions of the proletarian and advance the cause of socialism. However, what really shocked Americans was not the oppression their fellow man was suffering to put meat on their plates, but what might be IN the meat on their plates. For as Jane Jacobs says in the introduction, this meant "telling about the revolting ingredients packed into America's breakfast sausages and pickled meats: flesh from tubercular cattle and hogs with cholera, floor sweepings, hapless rats, and unsalubrious chemicals to render the results cosmetically acceptable."Yum.It's certainly an important book, caused an uproar when it was published in 1906, and led to meat-packing regulations, but as fiction it's mediocre.Quotes:On marriage:"Marriage and prostitution were two sides of one shield, the predatory man's exploitation of the sex-pleasure. The difference between them was a difference of class. If a woman had money she might dictate her own terms: equality, a life-contract, and the legitimacy - that is, the property rights - of her children. If she had no money, she was a proletarian, and sold herself for an existence."On religion:"Government oppressed the body of the wage-slave, but Religion oppressed his mind, and poisoned the stream of progress at its source. The workingman was to fix his hopes upon a future life, while his pockets were picked in this one; he was brought up to frugality, humility, obedience, - in short to al the pseudo-virtues of capitalism.""I have no doubt that in a hundred years the Vatican will be denying that it ever opposed Socialism, just as at present it denies that it ever tortured Galileo."
    • 3/5
      Amazing book about the hardships of the immigrant workforce in the Chicago meat factories of the early 20th century. A little dry in areas every once in awhile but didn't shy away from any shocking details that was a day to day event in the lives of so many immigrants at the time.
    • 3/5
      This book had three parts. The first is the heart-wrenching story of an immigrant family - coming with high hopes, working hard, living/working in deplorable conditions and getting taken advantage of by everyone. The second part occurs after the man leaves his family and tramps around - still a hard-scrabble life but as a single man, not quite as frustratingly helpless - a bit of a look at how society treats the homeless. The third being a multi-page lecture on socialism.It started strong and the family dynamics were compelling - their hopelessness was palpable. The conditions of working in the meat packing plants were truly horrific - nice to know that portion of the story led to government intervention. I thought it fizzled in "part two" and had to drag myself through the socialist rant at the end.Ever since reading, I have been trying to draw parallels between the immigrants of the early 1900s and the immigrant battles going on today. I think both groups come to America with dreams of living a better life. I think they both work hard for relatively low pay in physically demanding, blue collar jobs. The only difference I see now is the social programs in place that didn't exist in the early 1900s. In the book, free food comes from the shelter and medical treatment is a luxury they cannot afford. Government programs in place now provide food, shelter, medicine and education to all the people who want it - at the expense of those that they deem can afford it. I think this is what is causing the backlash against immigration. The labor is still cheap and plentiful. But by changing the role of charitable contributions to a government-enforced tax, we no longer appeal to the human desire to care for our fellow man. We now demand they pay. The result, as we've seen, is everyone trying to get/keep as big a piece of the pie as they can.
    • 4/5
      Despite the anticlimactic lecture on the virtues of socialism, I found this story to be very compelling after the first 50 pages. Once I accepted that everything bad is going to happen to this family, the reading became more enjoyable. Even though I don't eat meat anyway, I didn't really find the meat factory narrative to be too surprising. The conditions were horrible to be sure, but I was more appalled at the amount of corruption and lack of help these people had in Chicago. I wished that Sinclair would have spent more time wrapping up the family drama and give that story some closure instead of spending the end of the book learning about socialism and plugging the socialist newspaper that published the serial story in the first place.