Upton Sinclair, The Jungle (1906)

Upton Sinclair, writer and journalists, wanted to write a book to reveal the harsh and exploited lives of immigrants in big cities like Chicago. But instead what it did was create federal regulations for food/health violations and unsanitary practices in the meatpacking industry. Harsh realities of immigrants contrasted with big business corruption.

Muckraking, a journalist who exposed corruption in business. He first published it in serial form in Socialist newspaper. Worked incognito for seven weeks.

Rudkus (lithuanian immigrant) had thought the US would offer more freedom, but he finds working conditions harsh. He and his young wife struggle to survive. They fall deeply into debt and are prey to con men.

Rudkus had expected to support his wife and other relatives, but eventually all – the women, children, and his sick father – seek work to survive. As the novel progresses, the jobs and means the family uses to stay alive slowly lead to their physical and moral decay. Accidents at work and other events lead the family closer to catastrophe.

The family's hardships accumulate as Ona confesses that her boss, Connor, had raped her, and made her job dependent on her giving him sexual favors. In revenge, Rudkus attacks Connor, resulting in his arrest and imprisonment.

His brief sojourn as a hobo in rural United States shows him that there is really no escape – farmers turn their workers away when the harvest is finished.

Rudkus returns to Chicago and holds down a succession of laboring jobs and as a con-man. He drifts without direction. One night, he wanders into a lecture being given by a Socialist orator, where he finds community and purpose. A fellow socialist employs him, and he resumes his support of his wife's family, although some of them are damaged beyond repair. The book ends with another socialist rally, which follows some political victories.