Sinclair wrote The jungle to portray the harsh conditions and exploited lives of immigrants in the United States in Chicago and other industrialized cities. His primary purpose in describing the meat industry and its working conditions was to advance socialism in the United States. However, most readers were more concerned with several passages exposing health violations and unsanitary practices in the American meat packing industry during the early 20th century, which greatly contributed to a public outcry which led to reforms including the Meat Inspection Act. His account of the social and human abuses of the yards, where packers used "everything about the hog except the squeal," led to major reforms in the industry and, along with UNCLE TOM'S CABIN, is one of the few American novels to have a lasting impact on the way we live our lives. Indeed, when this book was published Jack London said, "What Uncle Tom's Cabin did for black slaves, The Jungle has a large chance to do for the white slaves of today." President Theodore Roosevelt was so shocked by what he read that he made sure a clean meat act, the Pure Food and Drug Bill, was signed into law, popularizing at the time the rather obscure term "muckraker." Later in life, Sinclair said of his masterpiece: "I aimed at the public's heart and by accident I hit it in the stomach."




Cover of the first edition.