The Jungle (Norton Critical Edition)

The JungleThe Jungle has drawn comment from historians, policy makers, and literary critics. "Contexts and Backgrounds" does full justice to the disparate social, historical, political, and literary dimensions of the novel. "Criticism" includes eight readings sure to foster classroom discussion of The Jungle as a literary text, as a historical document in its own right, as a contribution to Progressive-era muckraking, and as an important document in urban, economic, and labor history. A Selected Bibliography is also included. About the series: No other series of classic texts equals the caliber of the Norton Critical Editions. Each volume combines the most authoritative text available with the comprehensive pedagogical apparatus necessary to appreciate the work fully. Careful editing, first-rate translation, and thorough explanatory annotations allow each text to meet the highest literary standards while remaining accessible to students. Each edition is printed on acid-free paper and every text in the series remains in print. Norton Critical Editions are the choice for excellence in scholarship for students at more than 2,000 universities worldwide.

The Jungle's influence has been extraordinary for a literary work. Upton Sinclair's 1906 landmark novel is widely credited with awakening the public fury that led to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act (1906), a watershed in consumer protection and government legislation.

This story of the immigrant experience in the harrowing Chicago stockyards has drawn comment from historians, policymakers, and literary critics, and it is a widely assigned teaching text. The novel is accompanied by an introduction and explanatory annotations.

"Contexts and Backgrounds" provides readers with an understanding of The Jungle's disparate social, historical, political, and literary dimensions. Included are autobiographical selections by the author; contemporary perspectives on the meatpacking industry, including writings by Theodore Dreiser, Adolphe Smith, and J. Ogden Armour; and commentary on the living conditions of immigrant workers. Historical studies by Jimmy Skaggs, Rick Halpern, James Barrett, Robert M. Crunden, John Braeman, William Cronon, and Eric Schlosser address the central issues: slaughterhouse abuses, protectionism and The Beef Trust, muckraking, Progressivism, and consumer rights.

"Criticism" collects eight provocative readings of The Jungle as a literary text, as a historical document in its own right, as a contribution to Progressive-era muckraking, and as an important work in urban, economic, and labor history. Contributions include Jack London, Edward Clark Marsh, Winston Spencer Churchill, Walter Rideout, June Howard, Scott Derrick, Michael Brewster Folsom, and Christopher P. Wilson.

A Selected Bibliography is also included.

The Jungle"s influence on the "real world" is extraordinary for a literary work. Sinclair"s 1906 landmark novel is credited with awakening the widespread public fury that led to the rapid passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act (1906), a watershed in consumer protection and government legislation. The Junglehas drawn comment from historians, policy makers, and literary critics. "Contexts and Backgrounds" does full justice to the disparate social, historical, political, and literary dimensions of the novel. "Criticism" includes eight readings sure to foster classroom discussion of The Jungleas a literary text, as a historical document in its own right, as a contribution to Progressive-era muckraking, and as an important document in urban, economic, and labor history. A Selected Bibliography is also included.

Clare Virginia Eby is Associate Professor of English at the University of Connecticut. She is the author of Dreiser and Veblen, Saboteurs of the Status Quo, editor of Theodore Dreiser's The Genius, and co-editor of the forthcoming Cambridge Companion to Theodore Dreiser.