The Jungle

Upton Sinclair's muckraking masterpiece The Jungle centers on Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant working in Chicago's infamous Packingtown. Instead of finding the American Dream, Rudkus and his family inhabit a brutal, soul-crushing urban jungle. While Sinclair's main target was the industry's appalling labor conditions, the reading public was most outraged at the disgusting filth and garbage in the American food industry. As a result, President Theodore Roosevelt called for an official investigation, which eventually led to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug laws. Today, The Jungle remains a relevant portrait of capitalism at its worst.