An ardent activist, champion of political reform, novelist, and progressive journalist, Upton Sinclair is perhaps best known today for The Jungle — his devastating exposé of the meat-packing industry. A protest novel he privately published in 1906, the book was a shocking revelation of intolerable labor practices and unsanitary working conditions in the Chicago stockyards. It quickly became a bestseller, arousing public sentiment and resulting in such federal legislation as the Pure Food and Drug Act.|The brutally grim story of a Slavic family who emigrates to America, The Jungle tells of their rapid and inexorable descent into numbing poverty, moral degradation, and social and economic despair. Vulnerable and isolated, the family of Jurgis Rudkus struggles — unsuccessfully — to survive in an urban jungle.
A powerful view of turn-of-the-century poverty, graft, and corruption, this fiercely realistic American classic is still required reading in many history and literature classes. It will continue to haunt readers long after they've finished the last page.
Who banned this book...
- the "dangerous" and purportedly "socialist views" expressed in the book led to its being banned in Yugoslavia, East Germany, South Korea and Boston.
- burned in the Nazi bonfires because of Sinclair's socialist views in 1933.
- banned in East Germany in 1956 as inimical to communism.
- banned in South Korea 1985.
A powerful view of turn-of-the-century poverty, graft, and corruption, this fiercely realistic American classic is still required reading in many history and literature classes. It will continue to haunt readers long after they've finished the last page.
Who banned this book...
- the "dangerous" and purportedly "socialist views" expressed in the book led to its being banned in Yugoslavia, East Germany, South Korea and Boston.
- burned in the Nazi bonfires because of Sinclair's socialist views in 1933.
- banned in East Germany in 1956 as inimical to communism.
- banned in South Korea 1985.