Upton Sinclair�s muckraking masterpiece The Jungle centers on Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant working
in Chicago�s 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�s main target was the industry�s 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�s publication in 1906, the only novel to have led to social change on a similar scale in America was Uncle
Tom�s 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.
