The Jungle : The Uncensored Original Edition
by Upton Sinclair
List Price:
Our Price: $7.54
You Save: $0.41 (5%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $0.73 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Upton SinclairEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-10-28
ISBN: 1440451443
Number of pages: 202
Publisher: CreateSpace
Book Reviews of The Jungle : The Uncensored Original Edition
Book Review: Great story, strong characters and a plea for social justice. Absolutely amazing!
Summary: 5 Stars
Published in 1906, this book is famous for exposing the unsanitary and disgusting practices of the meat processing industry in Chicago. I chose to read the original uncensored edition because I didn't want a whitewashed version. I was not disappointed. I got it all, in all its grisly details. Processed meat and sausages included diseased animal meat, rats, the filth on the floor and even the bodies of human workers who got sucked into the lard vats. Yes, these abuses were shocking and resulted in reform and new standards for the industry, but that was only one aspect of the book.
Central to the story is the plight of the workers and, indeed, that was Upton Sinclair's purpose as he went to Chicago on a stipend from a socialist newspaper to expose the exploitation of the factory workers. That is the central theme of the book and I found myself wincing throughout, not only because of the tubercular beef being sold to the public, but mostly because of the degradation of the human beings who were just cogs in the wheels of production.
The story is about a family of Lithuanian immigrants who came to America for a better life. From the very beginning, they were cheated. They were sold a substandard house and never told about the extra taxes, fees and clauses that would cause them to lose the house if they were late with their payments. They had to to walk several miles to work in the stockyards in the dead of winter with inadequate clothing. Children were forced to work too and one little boy lost some fingers from frostbite. Their wages didn't meet their needs and there were times there was no food at all. They could never afford doctors or medicine and if a member of a family was sick or injured that person lost his or her job.
I'll never forget the characters in the book. Ona and Jurgis are a young married couple who we meet at their wedding in the beginning of the book. They are young and they have hope. Jurgis is big and strong and easily gets a job. At first all seems well. But as the book progresses, we see how everyone in the family has no choice but to work. This includes the elderly father and the children. Later, when Jurgis hurts his foot in an accident, he is out of work for months and the family suffers. But even more horror is in store of the family. Mainly, we follow what happens to Jurgis as he loses his job, and circumstances spiral out of control. I felt real emotion for him and his family, amazed at out anyone could endure the hardships they had to face. Eventually the book winds up as the writer wanted it, with anger at the exploitation of the workers.
I loved this book. I read it all at once, starting it at three o'clock one afternoon and reading through most of the night until I finished it. I identified with each of the characters and was amazed at their forbearance and strength through all their adversity. Of course I had heard about these horrible conditions throughout my lifetime. But I never realized how bad they really were. This book opened my eyes. I don't know if I will ever be the same again.
I give this book my highest recommendation. It's not only a great story with great characters, it's a plea for social justice. And its impact can still be felt today.
Summary of The Jungle : The Uncensored Original Edition
The Jungle was written about the corruption of the American meatpacking industry during the early 20th century. Although Sinclair originally intended to focus on industrial labor and working conditions, food safety became the most pressing issue. Sinclair's account of workers' falling into rendering tanks and being ground, along with animal parts, into "Durham's Pure Leaf Lard", gripped public attention. The morbidity of the working conditions, as well as the exploitation of children and women alike that Sinclair exposed showed the corruption taking place inside the meat packing factories. Foreign sales of American meat fell by one-half. Considered a classic and important example of the muckraking tradition of journalism.Classics Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Classics Books
Native sonby Richard Wright
Perennial Library; Published: 1987; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.75
Native Son: And How Bigger Was Bornby Richard Wright
Perennial; Published: 1993-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $60.00
Raphael and the Noble Taskby Catherine Salton
Harper; Published: 2000-10-24; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.49
Price in other shops:
Island (Perennial Classics)by Aldous Huxley
Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Published: 2002-07-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops:
A Tree Grows in Brooklynby Betty Smith
Harper; Published: 2001-11-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.74
Price in other shops:
The Great Divorce CDby C. S. Lewis
HarperAudio; Published: 2003-11-25; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $12.65
Price in other shops:
Great Expectationsby Charles Dickens
Macmillan Pub Co; Published: 1979-06; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
This Side of Paradiseby Fitzgerald
Scribner Paper Fiction; Published: 1988-09-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.95
Price in other shops:
Black Coffee (Poirot)by Agatha Christie
Harper Collins Pb; Published: 2002-12-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $68.32
Slouching Towards Bethlehem (1960s)by Joan Didion
Flamingo; Published: 2001-04-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $22.25
Similar Books and other products
All I Asking for Is My Body (Kolowalu Book)by Milton Murayama
University of Hawaii Press; Published: 1988-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.57
Price in other shops:
Andrew Carnegie and the Rise of Big Business (Library of American Biography Series) (3rd Edition)by Harold C. Livesay
Longman; Published: 2006-03-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.00
Price in other shops:
Cengage Advantage Books: Liberty, Equality, Power: A History of the American People, Volume 2: Since 1863by John M. Murrin, Paul E. Johnson, James M. McPherson, Alice Fahs, Gary Gerstle
Wadsworth Publishing; Published: 2011-04-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $44.60
Price in other shops:
Speaking of America: Readings in U.S. History, Vol. II: Since 1865by Laura A. Belmonte
Wadsworth Publishing; Published: 2006-03-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $29.00
Price in other shops:
Farewell to Manzanarby Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, James D. Houston, James A. Houston
Bantam Books; Houghton Mifflin Books for Children; Published: 2002-04-29; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.65
Price in other shops:
The 9/ 11 Commission Report with Related Documents (Bedford Series in History & Culture)by Ernest R. May
Bedford/St. Martin's; Published: 2007-02-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.67
Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Mealby Eric Schlosser
PBS; Harper Perennial; Published: 2005-07-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.99
Price in other shops:
MYTH OF THE WELFARE QUEEN: A Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist's Portrait of Women on the Lineby David Zucchino
Scribner; Published: 1997-03-18; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $134.96
If I Die in a Combat Zone : Box Me Up and Ship Me Homeby Tim O'Brien
Broadway; Published: 1999-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.93
Price in other shops:
Coming of Age in Mississippiby Anne Moody
Delta; Published: 2004-02-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.72
Price in other shops: