The classic protest novel that exposed harsh working conditions and unsanitary practices in the meatpacking industry A slaughterhouse worker from Lithuania, Jurgis Rudkus immigrated to turn-of-the-century Chicago believing that he would find freedom and prosperity. Instead, meager wages and a filthy, dangerous workplace drive him deep into debt and despair. Victimized, abused, and utterly alone, Jurgis and his wife, Ona, face a lifetime of never-ending struggle in a merciless urban jungle. An extraordinary work of fiction based in cold, hard fact, The Jungle is one of the most influential novels ever written. Privately published in 1906, it quickly became an international bestseller, inspiring sweeping and essential changes, including the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act. Powerful and provocative, poignant and horrifying, The Jungle is Upton Sinclair's masterwork. This ebook has been authorized by the estate of Upton Sinclair.