Synopses & Reviews
Upton Sinclairs novel The Jungle, which inspired passage in 1906 of the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act, stands as a classic of twentieth-century American literature and social protest. In this accessible and thorough edition by Christopher Phelps, a critical introduction addresses the wide range of issues raised by the text, including early twentieth-century working conditions, immigrant community, race and gender, political reform, and the continuing relevance of Sinclairs investigation. This edition uses the most widely recognized text of The Jungle — the Doubleday, Page edition published in 1906 — and provides an illuminating supporting document: President Theodore Roosevelts delivery to Congress of the official report that confirmed The Jungles shocking allegations about the Chicago meatpacking industry. Questions for consideration, a chronology, and a selected bibliography help contextualize Sinclairs novel and provide students with resources for further study.
About the Author
CHRISTOPHER PHELPS is associate professor of History at The Ohio State University at Mansfield. A specialist in twentieth-century American intellectual and political history, he is the author of Young Sidney Hook: Marxist and Pragmatist (1997), in addition to numerous journal articles and reviews. Most recently, he edited and introduced Max Shachtman's Race and Revolution for Verso (2003). He has twice received the Fulbright Award: in 2000 to teach American philosophy and intellectual history in Hungary, and in 2004-2005 to serve as Distinguished Chair in American Studies for Poland.
Table of Contents
Contents
Foreword
Preface
A Note about the Text
PART ONE
Introduction: Upton Sinclair and the Social Novel
Into The Jungle
Muckraking and Reform in the Progressive Era
The Politics of Socialism and Labor
The Novel as Social History: Immigration, Ethnicity, Gender,
and Race in The Jungle
The Jungle as Literature
Upton Sinclair and the Legacy of The Jungle
Is It Still True?
PART TWO
The Jungle
PART THREE
Related Document
Charles P. Neill and James Bronson Reynolds, Conditions
in Chicago Stock Yards, June 4, 1906
Appendixes
An Upton Sinclair Chronology (1878-1968)
Questions for Consideration
Selected Bibliography
Index