The Jungle (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) [Mass Market Paperback]

Upton Sinclair (Author), Charles Burns (Illustrator), Eric Schlosser (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 28, 2006

Upton Sinclair's dramatic and deeply moving story exposed the brutal conditions in the Chicago stockyards at the turn of the nineteenth century and brought into sharp moral focus the apalling odds against which immigrants and other working people struggled for their share of the American dream. Denounced by the conservative press as an un-American libel on the meatpacking industry, the book was championed by more progressive thinkers, including then president Theodore Roosevelt, and was a major catalyst to the passing of the Pure Food and Meat Inspection act, which has tremendous impact to this day.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Upton Sinclair (1878-1968) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning author. The Jungle helped in the passage of the pure-food laws during the Progressive Era. Eric Schlosser is a journalist and the New York Times bestselling author of Fast Food Nation. He began his journalism career at the Atlantic Monthly. Charles Burns, a former contributor to Art Spiegelman's Raw magazine, is an illustrator whose work has included the covers of major magazines and CDs. His most well- known comics are Black Hole, Big Baby, and Skin Deep.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (March 28, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 014303958X
• ISBN-13: 978-0143039587
• Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 1.2 x 8.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #114,211 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #75 in Books > Literature & Fiction > United States > Classics

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Eye Opening, except the ending, December 19, 2006

By 

Jody (Falls Church, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Jungle (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) (Mass Market Paperback)

I have been meaning to read this book for years as it's always been heralded as a monumental book that changed the meat packing industry and workers' rights in the early 20th century. Upon finally reading it this year (2006) I was stunned - mainly because I had read Fast Food Nation a few years ago and many things described in The Jungle had similarily been described in Fast Food Nation, which was written in 2005. The workers have simply shifted - instead of coming from Europe they are now from Mexico and other Latin American countries.

No doubt this book is eye opening - to the struggle of immigrants looking for a better place, to workers' rights (and lack thereof), to regulations of the food industry, to bribery and general disregard of the law due to greed. The ordeals and struggles Jurgis deals with are unbelieveable and when reading you'll keep thinking "Well, it can't get any worse" and yet somehow it does.

I did have a few difficulties in reading the book. First, for some reason I had (wrongly) assumed this was a non-fiction book ever since I read about it in Jr. High History class. This is a fiction novel, however it is based on Sinclair's studies of the meat packing industry and the tenements. Second, the characters are mostly of Lithuanian descent with extremely complex names. I had a bit of trouble keeping up with who everyone was in the beginning and kept getting everyone confused for the first 50 or so pages.

A general dislike from many readers is the ending. Throughout the book, Jurgis is depicted a simple country man, just wanting to earn a decent living and support his family. You do see his evolution in learning how to "work the system" to his advantage as he becomes more and more disenchanted with his new surroundings. Towards the end of the book, he finds Socialism. However, it's almost as if Sinclair forgets who his character is. While Jurgis might have found Socialism on his own and become extremely passionate, he would not have spoke in such educated and expressive words that Sinclair portrays. The end comes across as feeling "tacked on" by Sinclair himself and seem as if you are reading the end of a completely different novel. Still, this book is worth the read for the first several hundred pages anyway.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Eye Opener, March 15, 2006

By 

K. Jarvis "Orchidsand" (Margate, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Jungle (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) (Mass Market Paperback)

For me this book was a real eye opener in relation three areas. 1.Immigrant life in the 1800s. It is a sad commentary on the US governement, and how they allowed people to be treated as nothing more than animals. It makes one appreciate the struggles our ancestors went through to make a life for themselves and their future families. 2. The roots of Unions for the US workers. 3. The method used to process meat. Hopefully it has significantly improved since that time period...it's amazing more people didn't die from the food they ate. It has been more than a year since I read the book and still look hesitantly at the meat counter. The story is a good reason to consider becoming a vegetarian.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read American classic, May 18, 2009

By 

Karl Janssen (Olathe, KS United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Jungle (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) (Mass Market Paperback)

Any top ten list of American novels should include Upton Sinclair's masterpiece, both for its literary qualities and its historical significance. The book has unfortunately been stigmatized as the "dirty meat novel", when in fact there are only a couple of brief passages that talk about the actual processing of meat. Mostly it's about the exploitation of immigrant workers, and their struggle to survive in a country where they're treated as little more than beasts of burden. The ending of the book is often criticized, as the last chapter is basically a Socialist manifesto, but Socialism was a powerful force in America in the early 20th century, and this novel paints a vivid picture of that era in American history.

With all the editions of The Jungle out there, why buy the Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition? The introduction and foreword are excellent, providing valuable historical context, an in-depth account of the book's reception by critics and the public, and insight into the long-term effects of The Jungle on the meat industry. Plus, the book is well-designed, with elegant, comfortably readable typography, and a dramatic cover design by Charles Burns that's sure to turn heads at the coffee shop.