The JungleIn this powerful book we enter the world of Jurgis Rudkus, a young Lithuanian immigrant who arrives in America fired with dreams of wealth, freedom, and opportunity. And we discover, with him, the astonishing truth about "packingtown," the busy, flourishing, filthy Chicago stockyards, where new world visions perish in a jungle of human suffering. Upton Sinclair, master of the "muckraking" novel, here explores the workingman's lot at the turn of the century: the backbreaking labor, the injustices of "wage-slavery," the bewildering chaos of urban life. The Jungle, a story so shocking that it launched a government investigation, recreates this startling chapter if our history in unflinching detail. Always a vigorous champion on political reform, Sinclair is also a gripping storyteller, and his 1906 novel stands as one of the most important -- and moving -- works in the literature of social change. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
agony Aniele Antanas Ashland asked beef began boss Bubbly Creek cattle cents chance Chicago cold corner cried crowd dollars door drink Duane Durham's eyes face feet fight floor Freddie friends gave girl gone Guv'ner half Halsted Street hands head heard hogs hour hundred Jadvyga jail Jane Jacobs Jokubas Jonas Jurgis sat Jurgis stood Jurgis's keep killing-beds knew labor lard laughed Lithuanian little Stanislovas lived look Marija matter meat Mike Scully morning muckraking nearly never night Ona's once Ostrinski packers Packingtown policeman Republican rushed saloon screaming Scully Sinclair Socialist soul stared stockyards stopped street suddenly Szedvilas Tamoszius tell Teta Elzbieta thing thought thousand told took turned union Upton Sinclair voice wage-slavery waiting walk week woman women wonderful workingman yards