Came upon this work after finding out about a much less well known work by the author and his second wife 'Mental Radio'. While the latter has a personal interest, "The Jungle" was far more entertaining and I read most of it online here (as I'm sure would much please it's author). Having been born in Chicago and espousing socialism as the only rational and inevitable basis for civilized society was much moved by the work, and disappointed to see that a hundred years after it's publication it is something assigned to high school students and others who see it as 'grotty' and are entirely oblivious to how key it was to many things such as foods produced to minimum standards and many other things they now take for granted. <br><br>But perhaps I should say things they have so far been able to take for granted since at the present all the gains fought for by generations of working class people are being lost by their descendents and at this rate will have to be clawed back in precisely the same manner as they were first hard won.<br><br>Maybe once they reach the level of privation described by SInclair, they will drop the burgeois pretenses and acknowledge it as "the white mans Uncle Toms Cabin".