Una de las novelas más importantes de la literatura estadounidense del siglo XX. Apareció en 1906; y su autor, muerto en 1968, traza en esta obra el retrato fiel, despiadado, de los orígenes de la "sociedad del bienestar". De "La Jungla" se han hecho cerca de 800 traducciones, a casi 50 idiomas. En el momento de su publicación, en Estados Unidos, alcanzó una resonancia de escándalo cuyos ecos han llegado hasta hoy. Su impacto obligó a la revisión de ciertas leyes, a la modificación de otrasw y a repetidas propuestas de derogación de las disposiciones que regulaban la asociación obrera en Norteamérica. Se trata, pues, de una novela a la que cuadra el adjetivo de "clásica" como reconocimiento a sus valores estrictamente literarios, pero también como un apasionante documento humano, testimonio de unas opciones culturales sañudamente silenciadas por el optimismo institucionalizado de la cultura oficial de su país. ( )

Here's what I wrote after reading in 1990: "Easy to see why the book caused a dramatic decrease in red meat consumption! Upton Sinclair exposed the digusting guts of the beef industry and strongly lobbied for socialism and rights of the worker. Jurgis, the pathetic hero, is tramatized by one "bad deal" after another. His honesty, integrity, energy, enthuasism are all driven from (him?) in the working man's America of the early 1900's / late 1800's." 2022 comment: This book deserves 5 stars for its positive impacts (Meat Inspection Act, Pure Food and Drug Act), if for nothing else. ( )

Each successive page was an excruciating step closer to total despair. It's a relief when Jurgis finally stomps all over on the garden of his soul. By the end just reading the socialist revival section is almost an ecstatic experience when compared to the misery that precedes it, which I suppose was the point.

2008/05/31
It strikes me that religious nature of Jurgis' conversion is pretty apt and probably deliberate. Although the connections he makes help him find a job and the cause gives his life meaning and purpose, the movement itself is sustained by promises of a soon coming utopia that never actually arrives. The parallels to the commonly cited communist critique of Christianity are glaring. ( )

I was expecting to read a book that would gross me out of eating animals for a while. The description was there ... but can words really describe what was happening in the meat packer factories? One can only imagine the sounds in the factory and the smells.

It turned out that I was more disgusted by the exploitation of immigratnts who didn't know any better and really thought they were [b:on the road|6288|The Road|Cormac McCarthy|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21E8H3D1JSL._SL75_.jpg|3355573] to the American dream.

I was surprised to see this as such an anti-capitalist book .... with a conclusion preaching the virtues of socialism!! Well, at least it was a happy ending of sorts. ( )

This is the book that should have made the United States a nation of vegetarians. The harrowing story of how Chicago’s industrial stockyards took an immigrant family from Lithuania and ground them up and spit them out was the impetus for the investigation (and ultimate break-up) of the meat trusts by the Theodore Roosevelt administration as well as the legislation that created the FDA. It was also a vehicle for Sinclair to promote the Socialist Party of which he was a member.

Even though this book was written 116 years ago its descriptions of the horrific working conditions in the stockyards and the wanton disregard for working conditions or the safety of employees by the factory owners still makes for a powerful novel that sill has relevance today. ( )