The Jungle (The Heritage Press)

xi, [1], 334 pp. Illustrations by Fletcher Martin, new preface by the author. The Jungle is a 1906 novel written by author and journalist Upton Sinclair. Sinclair wrote the novel to highlight the plight of the working class and to show the corruption of the American meatpacking industry during the early-20th century. The novel depicts in harsh tones poverty, absence of social programs, unpleasant living and working conditions, and hopelessness prevalent among the working class, which is contrasted with the deeply-rooted corruption on the part of those in power. Sinclair's observations of the state of turn-of-the-century labor were placed front and center for the American public to see, suggesting that something needed to be changed to get rid of American 'wage slavery'. The novel is also an important example of the 'muckraking' tradition begun by journalists such as Jacob Riis. The novel was first published in serial form in 1905. 'After five rejections', its first edition as a novel was published by Doubleday, Page & Company on February 28, 1906, and it became an immediate bestseller and has been in print ever since.