The Jungle (See Sharp Press, 2003)
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Upton Sinclair said about his book, ""I aimed at the public’s heart and by accident hit its stomach." The primary intention of his book was to call attention to labor abuses, which it did to some degree, but the greater (and more unintentional) effect was to tighten up safety and cleanliness standards in meat packing plants. Either way it is a classic piece of muckraking and a must-read for any American.
"Here is a population, low-class and mostly foreign, hanging always on the verge of starvation and dependent for its opportunities of life upon the whim of men every bit as brutal and unscrupulous as the old-time slave drivers; under such circumstances, immorality is exactly as inevitable, and as prevalent, as it is under the system of chattel slavery."
"In a society dominated by the fact of commercial competition, money is necessarily the test of prowess, and wastefulness the sole criterion of power."
