No other American novel of the twentieth contmy provoked as much public uproar as Upton Sinclair's The Jungle (1906).In fact, with the exception of Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti,slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1857), no American book yet written has proved so influential. It is the story of an honest, hardworking Lithuanian immigrant, Jurgis Rudkus, who comes to Chicago at the turn of the twentieth century with hopes of making a good life for himself and his family.Instead, he encounters a series of misfortunes and degradations as a result of his own ignorance and the powerful forces of unrestrained capitalism and political corruption. Rudkus's sad story highlights the many injustices and pitfalls of American political and social Systems......

It is the story of an honest, hardworking Lithuanian immigrant, Jurgis Rudkus, who comes to Chicago at the turn of the twentieth century with hopes of making a good life for himself and his family.Instead, he encounters a series of misfortunes and degradations as a result of his own ignorance and the powerful forces of unrestrained capitalism and political corruption. Rudkus"s sad story highlights the many injustices and pitfalls of American political and social Systems.

INTRODUCTION

CHRONOLOGY OF UPTON SINCLAIR"S

LIFE AND WORK

HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF TheJungle

THE JUNGLE

NOTES

INTERPRETIVE NOTES

CRITICAL EXCERPTS

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE INTERESTED READER