In this powerful book we enter the world ofJurgis Rudkus, a young Lithuanian immigrant who arrivesin America fired with dreams of wealth, freedom,and opportunity. And we discover, with him, theastonishing truth about "packingtown," thebusy, flourishing, filthy Chicago stockyards, wherenew world visions perish in a jungle of humansuffering. Upton Sinclair, master of the"muckraking" novel, here explores the workingman'slot at the turn of the century- the backbreakinglabor, the injustices of "wage-slavery,"the bewildering chaos of urban life. TheJungle, a story so shocking that itlaunched a government investigation, recreates thisstartling chapter if our history in unflinchingdetail. Always a vigorous champion on political reform,Sinclair is also a gripping storyteller, and his1906 novel stands as one of the most important --and moving -- works in the literature of socialchange.