Product Description
This file includes: Novels -- Damaged Goods, based on the play "Les Avaries" by Eugene Brieux, 1913; Jimmie Higgins, 1919; The Jungle, 1906; King Coal, 1917; King Midas, a Romance, 1901; Love's Pilgrimage, 1911; The Metropolis, 1908; The Moneychangers, 1908; 100%: The Story of a Patriot, 1920; Samuel the Seeker, 1909; Sylvia's Marriage, 1915; They Call Me Carpenter, a Tale of the Second Coming, 1922; Non-Fiction -- The Profits of Religion: an Essay in Economic Interpretation, 1917; Plays -- The Machine, 1911; The Naturewoman; The Pot Boiler, 1913; Prince Hagen, 1903; and The Second-Story Man. According to Wikipedia: "Upton Sinclair, Jr. (September 20, 1878 – November 25, 1968), was a Pulitzer Prize-winning prolific American author who wrote over 90 books in many genres. He achieved considerable popularity in the first half of the 20th century, gaining particular fame for his 1906 muckraking novel The Jungle. The book dealt with conditions in the U.S. meat packing industry, causing a public uproar that partly contributed to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act in 1906."
... Read more

Product Description

This collection was designed for optimal navigation on Kindle and other electronic devices. It is indexed alphabetically, chronologically and by category, making it easier to access individual books, stories and poems. This collection offers lower price, the convenience of a one-time download, and it reduces the clutter in your digital library. All books included in this collection feature a hyperlinked table of contents and footnotes. The collection is complimented by an author biography.

Customer Reviews (2)

mandatory reading
Works of Upton Sinclair. The Jungle, King Midas, The Moneychangers, The Metropolis, King Coal, Sylvia's Marriage, They Call Me Carpenter & more. FREE Author's ... version. Published by MobileReference (mobi)

It amazes me how far we have come as a country and God Bless those that had to blaze this heinous trail ahead of us. In ways I wish more folks would read this ebook, so that they could put things in perspective for themselves and truly be thankful for that job that asks that they work on the holidays but makes sure you leave in the same condition you arrived in.

Intellectual treat
Works of Upton Sinclair. The Jungle, King Midas, The Moneychangers, The Metropolis, King Coal, Sylvia's Marriage, They Call Me Carpenter & more. FREE Author's ... version. Published by MobileReference (mobi)

Whether one is eating a hamburger, or buying a product from a store, they can thank Sinclair that they are not eating freshly ground rats with synthetic ketchup. ... Read more

Product Description
Upton Sinclair was a prolific novelist, producing over 90 books in many genres.His book The Jungle, depicting conditions in the Chicago meat packing industry, was a national sensation, and led to the eventual creation of the Food and Drug Administration.Sinclair was an ardent Socialist, and ran for Congress on a socialist platform.His novel Dragion's Teeth, about the rise of the Nazi Party, won the Pulitzer Prize.

Sylvia's Marriage<.I>, published in 1914, deals with the marriage of Southern socialite Sylvia Castleman, told from the viewpoint of her friend Mary Abbot.As Mary puts it, "I was to Sylvia a new and miraculous thing, a self-made woman." While coming from different backgrounds and classes, both women share the experience of marrying the wrong man, and Sylvia must deal with the consequences of her husband's pre-marital escapades.

A critic termed it "A novel that frankly is devoted to the illustration of the dangers that society runs through the marriage of unsound men with unsuspecting women." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A triangle and VD
At first glance, Sylvia's Marriage might be an interesting uptake on the usual 19th century preoccupation of girl meets boy(s) and deals with the tragedy, or the happy resolve, of the choice she makes, but Upton Sinclair seems determined here to use the novel form and inbreed it with what might have been much more effective as a non-fiction study. Ostensibly a tangle between three women, we have Mary Abbott, a poor farmer's wife who turns herself into the apostle of the American left, Claire Le Page, a Jamesian mistress to the male antagonist, Douglas de Tuvier, and Sylvia, who consents to marry him like a good Southern girl because she is supposed to do what is expected.

Within this plot line, which is a bit thin, as Upton seems not to respect the humanity of his characters except as they serve to expose the evil involved in capitalism and class, the reader gets a lesson in socialist polemics, which might be expected, but then gonorhea waltzes in as the primary villain to combat, and the last third of the book shows how Sylvia comes into her own, using a baby daughter as hook and bait, and some ironic prejudices against the disabled are allowed free reign.

In some ways, this book is not worth the rating I've given it, yet Upton Sinclair might have been a writer equal to the American greats on the canon if he might have allowed his characters to serve his ideology rather than the opposite, and if for nothing more than a weird curiosity, mixing ideology with a love triangle and medical drama, a student interested in the rise of the American left should give this work its due. ... Read more

Product Description
This novel embraces the period from the Wall Street Crash of 1929 to the Nazi Blood Purge of 1934. Wm. Schuman, Professor of Political Science at Williams College said "There is nothing I have read, in prose or verse, fiction of fact, which has impressed me so vividly with the realities of National Socialism.Sinclair's pictures of the Nazi leaders are superb, and he has almost achieved the impossible in catching the spirit and atmosphere of the movement."As the noose of history pulls tighter, the men and women of Sinclair's imagining grow in maturity and power, and the readers of his story - wherever they may choose to pick up the thread - gain a new perspective on the world through whichg they lived and are living.A 1943 PULITZER PRIZE NOVEL!A Collector's Edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Idealism Run Amok
This 1943 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Upton Sinclair captures the spirit and drama of events in Europe leading up to World War II.The story begins with a complex portrait of life and philosophy among the leisure class between the great wars of the first half of the Twentieth century.Lanny Budd is the playboy son of a munitions manufacturer married to a wealthy American heiress.His Socialist political beliefs reflect those of the Sinclair himself who incidently ran as the Socialist Party candidate for governor in California in 1934.Lanny Budd's connections eventually put him in touch directly with the highest leadership of the Nazi movement as that ideology overtakes the political arena in the mid 1930s in Germany.
This is a good story for those of us in the Twenty-first century as it shows what happens when political idealism runs unchecked. ... Read more

Product Description
In this book, Sinclair attacks institutionalized religion as a "source of income to parasites, and the natural ally of every form of oppression and exploitation." Sinclair also questions the Catholic Church which despite having large system of charity,treats (in his view) the symptoms rather than the disease: they do not question the economic arrangements that make people poor.Whether one agrees or disagrees with Sinclair's multiple critiques, it is worthwhile to not ignore and to spend time reading his point of view. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

And you thought Richard Dawkins was hard on religion...
I give it 5 stars because of all the trouble people like U. Sinclair and H.L. Mencken had to go through to speak a word of truth in this time.Also, it seems to me that researching and preparing a modern atheist book would be much easier than combing through libraries in the manner of the author of this book.I'm about 3/4 of the way through with this one and it is the fourth book I've read from Sinclair.It is very wordy(like most religios books) and I would have been frustrated without my Kindle(really easy to find a definition).I have enjoyed The Jungle, The Moneychangers and King Coal.I haven't read Oil!, but I "There will be blood" is what turned me on to this author.This book is no different.Why is everyone so dismissive of this writer anyway?
About the book, it is what it says it is.Get ready to read about the "unholy alliance" of organized religion and "big business".Ever wonder how the church benefits from its actions and why they are tolerated by the aristocracy?Sinclair explains it clearly(could have done without some of the verbage).He gives one example after another of how the church has stood in the path of every human advancement throughout history.Name a reform of the last 500 years and Sinclair will show you how it was opposed by the church.Child labor laws?Check.Improvement of labor conditions?Check.Innoculations, education(not just darwinism) and so it goes.When all is said and done, I have to admit that religion is taking a beating these days from the media.Not a word was spoken contrary to religion in Sinclair's time.I know the tyrrany of Catholic child molestation was unpunished and deserved more hate than it received.But, it was reported.Also, just today, I saw the NYT bitching about fundamentalists messing around with Texas public school curriculum and Bill Maher premiers a new comedy on HBO tonight.How do I know he is?Because I keep seeing advertisements everywhere.So, we are in the process of slowly eradicating organized religion.It will happen.But, it will also be replaced.In fact, I think it already has.Oppression has become more subtle.The ruling class is less blatant and the masses only need good entertainment to keep them in check.American Idol, anyone?
All in all, the book is thought provoking and relevant.We all owe this author a debt of gratitude.He fought hard in his life and it was worthwhile.

Interesting book
Muckraker and socialist writer, Upton Sinclair, takes on the subject of the corruption of formal religions in this vitriolic piece of non-fiction.Sinclair writes mainly about the crimes that organized Christian religions have committed against the common laborer and the strides they have taken to ingratiate themselves with big business.

Sinclair loads up a cart of rotten eggs and begins hurling them.He scores some major hits.He takes on the Anglican church and their faults as they drove the country of England into lack of preparedness for World War I.The Catholic church, which Sinclair argues is the worst of the bunch, gets 50 pages of scathing attacks--everything from where money came from to buy their churches and how they duped soldiers into world war I with seemingly holy prayer books.He also gives case examples on how they patched the wounds of the striking workers but failed to address the inequalities which causes the workers to strike.The protestant churches get their fair share as well with their crooked ministers who Rockefeller used to pacify his unruly and striking workers.

Organized religion, Sinclair points out, has also undermined women's rights, the right of poor worker to strike or find something better, and brought in a breed of charlatans (some of which have grown tremendously and still exist today).Sinclair also uses history to point out obvious abuses and shows how in some cases the writings of saints with socialistic ideas have been suppressed and not taught (or conveniently ignored).

Sinclair, at the end of the book, does not condemn Christianity.He believes that when the Social Revolution occurs that a new Christianity will take place that will encourage and make equal everyone's rights.Some of the facts and information are a bit dated, but over all the some of the same problems that existed at the turn of the century are still around.In addition, some of the ideas were a bit complicated and probably required more knowledge of what the issues were of the day than what I was familiar with.This book is a definite reminder of the effects of religious corruption and abuses.

Interesting Document
This is a good and interesting document. Tells a lot of raw truths about religion and it's profiteers. However, it claifies the differences between the reality of God and the concept of religion which has traditionally used to liberate a few and enslave the masses. Unfortunately, dated elements as rabid anti-Catholicism and pro-Bolshevism mar this message for modern readers, but if you can read this book with an open mind, it's quite revealing. ... Read more

Product Description
An excerpt from the book -

The town of Pedro stood on the edge of the mountain country; a
straggling assemblage of stores and saloons from which a number of
branch railroads ran up into the canyons, feeding the coal-camps.
Through the week it slept peacefully; but on Saturday nights, when the
miners came trooping down, and the ranchmen came in on horseback and in
automobiles, it wakened to a seething life.

At the railroad station, one day late in June, a young man alighted from
a train. He was about twenty-one years of age, with sensitive features,
and brown hair having a tendency to waviness. He wore a frayed and faded
suit of clothes, purchased in a quarter of his home city where the
Hebrew merchants stand on the sidewalks to offer their wares; also a
soiled blue shirt without a tie, and a pair of heavy boots which had
seen much service. Strapped on his back was a change of clothing and a
blanket, and in his pockets a comb, a toothbrush, and a small pocket
mirror.

Sitting in the smoking-car of the train, the young man had listened to
the talk of the coal-camps, seeking to correct his accent. When he got
off the train he proceeded down the track and washed his hands with
cinders, and lightly powdered some over his face.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Long and Interesting
I really liked this book because it takes a chapter or two toget into it but after it gets into it you star with it. This book was kinda like the movie the matrix because it has some action in it and it takes about halfof the book or more to understand it. This book is great because it willboggle the most advanced mind. ... Read more

Product Description
While this novel is fictional as are most of its main characters, it is probably one of the best historical views of the 20th Century.At the same time it is extremely funny.The story is applicable to the present day and the foreseeable future in that it politically targets the desire of the West to control oil flow (which the Iraq War was about) .Yes, the plot starts out during the years of pre-WW I and continues thru to WW II.It will give the reader a greater understanding of the world events during that period of time.As said in a review, the character of "Larry Budd is extraordinary and realistically portrayed with true emotion and depth".Upton Sincalir left us a truly vivid perspective of the world at this point in history.It is one of the best Sinalair novels he ever written and perhaps one of the greatest novels produced in the 20th Century.It is a 5 STAR novel.World End II is a continuation of the Larry Budd look at the world.A Collector's Edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

History as Current Events
Lanny Budd was born in 1900, a convenient device for the author to give dates without boring the reader.I was born in 1937, and have read the entire series, except for the eleventh volume, some 5 times.Number eleven I couldn't bring myself to read for many years, because I had heard that Sinclair had "sold out" as the terminology was (like Howard Fast and so many others - old lefties will recognize the phenomenon), and I didn't want to put myself through it.Now I have just finished the series for the last time (probably) and I did find the final volume somewhat painful.But the rest of it is just as fresh and thrilling as on first reading, and finding myself with two copies, I am going to sell one set.I'm trying to get my grandchildren interested in the other.Historical fiction is a painless way of absorbing names and events that happened just under the horizon of current events in a given person's lifetime. How many serious young readers know the part played by Clemenceau, le tigre, in the events "Between Two Worlds", or know about Charles de Gaulle's role in helping to get France on her feet again politically after Vichy, occupied France, the Free French partisans, and so on and on?For my mother, who was born in 1910, and who introduced me to these books, all of it was current events.For me, the threshhold of "currrent events" is more like World War II, but these grandchildren of mine are studying the first Gulf War as history!

I learned more about history from this series....
I majored in history in college, but this series (read over a 6-month period) gave me a better understanding of the European viewpoint of modern history than I got from any of my college classes.From the beginning of World War I until the Cold War of the 1950's, Sinclair provides a perspective from each of the participants in the conflicts, not simply "our" side.Lanny Budd is clearly a fantastical character with unlimited access to decision makers (and to funds) but he allows the reader to see history from multiple scenes.
Clearly, Sinclair has his own political perspective (which is most visible in the last volumes as Lanny spends more time in the United States) but it doesn't detract from the scope of the novels.I wish I had read these while I was in college.. and wish that everyone responsible for foreign policy today had read them, too.

I should have given this series 1 million Stars!
Master Craftsman! His command over language, the construction of sentences are nothing short of being stupendous. Whilst classics of Shakespeare or Dickens are still available - Upton's brilliant gems are hidden in depths of anonymity. What a crime! Whoever reads this review relegate Dan Brown to garbage, make origami of Steele's books and use Sidney Sheldon as toilet paper. Shockingly funny this Lanny Budd series is a class act. Students of English Language must look treat this
series as their Bible!

the core of a century
although fictionally Upton Sinclair unorthodoxly or unaccademically pictures the main conflict of a conflictuous XXth century. I've read it in my youth, and now again, and it is always a help to undersatnd what is going on in the world, even from a peripherical point of view. It's overflowing, verboragic and not literaly commendable; it's not history, but it is surely didactical. It's outdated, perhaps oldfashioned, but it is a work on its own merits that deserves to be read, and an interested reader will find enlightining and useful.

Iraq all over again
If you want to know what's going on with George Bush junior's fascination with Iraq, read this book. Quite clearly it shows how shortly after the turn of the century, Britain and France wanted to make sure they got access to oil ahead of Germany, despite the German's industrial base growing faster than that in Britain in France. The target: Mesopotamia. And what is Mesopotamia? Modern day Iraq. Also of interest was the explanation that Germany's superior air power during WWI was in part attributed to French industrialists who sold the materials necessary to Switzerland who in turn sold to Germany, which Germany used to attack France: all in the name of profit.

Beyond the historical references, the story is wonderfully told, and Lanny Budd's character is extraordinarily and realistically portrayed with true emotion and depth, quite an achievement for that period of time.

This series of books is exceptional and I hope to read all of them. ... Read more

Product Description
Documenting the brutal conditions in the Chicago stockyards at the turn of the century, this centennial edition of The Jungle brings into sharp moral focus the appalling odds against which immigrants and other working people struggled for their share of the American dream. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

One of my favorites
I first read this book about 8 years ago in a High School history class.Since then I have read it twice and I did a college thesis on it; it is one of my favorite books.The first time I read the hardcover book; the next two times I listened to the unabridged audiobook and enjoyed it so much better.

At Least Charles Dickens Could Write
Cicero once wrote, 'It is an outrageous abuse both of time and literature for a man to commit his thoughts to writing without having the ability either to arrange them or manifest them, or attract readers by some charm of style."

This book is a naturalistic novel with poor prose. Melodramatic and sensationalistic. It is functionally aligned to what was characterized as 'dime-novels' during the era in which it was written. The prose is so heinous it made me think the writer Mr. Sinclair must have been mentally exiguous. I had difficulty affirming in my own mind as I read this book that it was actually written by an adult, and not a fourteen-year-old child; notwithstanding a supposed professional novelist at that. Charles Dickens worked in a garment factory when he was a teenager as well as had a far less well-off beginning to life than that of Mr. Sinclair, yet Mr. Dickens could express with the most refined art and effort such an ease of pen dazzling the reader in every line. Dickens had indubitably an eye for detail and perfection that Sinclair's intellectual apathy could never aspire to grasp.

For a more eminent literary personification of the naturalistic novel genre, I would suggest reading Stephen Crane's Maggie: A Girl of the Streets. The naturalistic novel was always a phantasm of reality, but there were well-written ones and poorly written ones; this one by Upton Sinclair is a literary peril to say the least.

This book is exceptional only its ridiculousness. The characters are passive, dull, cliché, and often utterly puerile in their own conceptualization of their circumstances (this reflects upon the limited thought process of the writer).

In respect to the vulgarity discussed by Sinclair regarding the food industry of this era it should be noted the industry had already been exposed by various NON-fiction writers of the period (preceding Sinclair), and much (the emphasis being much, not all) of the industry had consequently been reformed apropos to the processing of food by the time this book was published. Essentially the government mandated regulatory reforms that were instituted the following year as a result of the popularity of this book were unnecessary, most significantly postulated on aberrational phenomena, and were superficial in remonstrance (oh but they made the public feel good inside). Conversely had Sinclair decided to be objective in his critique of the meatpacking industry in contrast to producing 'muckracking' so-called journalism derived out of his own subjective views in support of socialist ideology he would have discovered the previously mentioned actuality, but since this is a work of fiction he could write anything he wished, and he did. Why Sinclair went down the road of sensationalism in this novel may be attributable to the failures of his first four books. However, because he decided to go down that road he cannot be taken seriously as a scholar in any regard.

It should be noted that Sinclair was not merely a metaphorical socialist, he was a literal one (he was an unsuccessful Socialist Party candidate in the U.S.). In historical context Sinclair's political persuasion was during an era when the progressive political faction was gaining in popularity in America, so as a socialist ideologue he [Sinclair] was even further to the left politically than the progressives (he could be paralleled with a Michael Moore type in the present-era).

This book is a literary work of fiction, and should not be taken earnestly as a non-fictional scholarly critique. With that noted it also falls short in regard to literary style, and because the characters are passively portrayed by Sinclair in contrast to being actively portrayed it is difficult for the reader to form any authentic connection with them (they exist more as abstractions).

outstanding book!
I strongly recommend this book which offers a realistic insight into the American economic and social system from the beginning of the 20th century. Surely has the author his own political preferences and suggests leftist remedies for a rough capitalist system but I see Upton Sinclair's narrative style as fair enough for every reader and straightforward.

A must-read American classic
Any top ten list of American novels should include Upton Sinclair's masterpiece, both for its literary qualities and its historical significance. The book has unfortunately been stigmatized as the "dirty meat novel", when in fact there are only a couple of brief passages that talk about the actual processing of meat. Mostly it's about the exploitation of immigrant workers, and their struggle to survive in a country where they're treated as little more than beasts of burden. The ending of the book is often criticized, as the last chapter is basically a Socialist manifesto, but Socialism was a powerful force in America in the early 20th century, and this novel paints a vivid picture of that era in American history.

With all the editions of The Jungle out there, why buy the Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition? The introduction and foreword are excellent, providing valuable historical context, an in-depth account of the book's reception by critics and the public, and insight into the long-term effects of The Jungle on the meat industry. Plus, the book is well-designed, with elegant, comfortably readable typography, and a dramatic cover design by Charles Burns that's sure to turn heads at the coffee shop.

A historical book that reformed the meat processing industry.
President Theodore Roosevelt had the meat industry investigated because of The Jungle while at the same time lecturing Sinclair against socialism. I find it unsettling the socialist lecturer in The Jungle and Henry George, (Progress & Poverty) promise almost the same results. I really hated the last chapter's talk of communal living which are called economies of cooperation in the book.
Let me not throw out the baby with the bath water. The Jungle is an excellent example of the stockyards in Chicago in that era. Immigrants and animals were living an endless nightmare of poverty, filth, & pain. In researching an article about our grandfather in Chicago newspaper archives on micro fiche frequently I found articles where all who ate in the same restaurant or from the same food market simply dropped dead in the same day or slowly & painfully over a couple days from food poisoning.
I did like the last chapter (the socialist push) where the speaker speaks of the natural diet which includes eating less meat. Much of our land & water & wildlife is spoiled from over breeding & over grazing of farm animals. There is no need to eat animal protein at every meal. It's not healthy not to eat fruits & vegetables & grains.
This book also might have been a major factor not only in food processing reform but also in the formation of unions. Denigrate unions all you want but because of unions workers have an advocate.
I gave The Jungle 4 stars instead of five stars because Upton Sinclair did not argue for Henry George, the author of Progress and Poverty. If you read it you will first want to read Bob Drake's edition. It's a difference of six hundred pages of very old english language verses two hundred pages of now speak.Progress and Poverty - edited and abridged for modern readers by Bob Drake ... Read more

Product Description
The JungleThe Jungle has drawn comment from historians, policy makers, and literary critics. "Contexts and Backgrounds" does full justice to the disparate social, historical, political, and literary dimensions of the novel. "Criticism" includes eight readings sure to foster classroom discussion of The Jungle as a literary text, as a historical document in its own right, as a contribution to Progressive-era muckraking, and as an important document in urban, economic, and labor history. A Selected Bibliography is also included.

About the series: No other series of classic texts equals the caliber of the Norton Critical Editions. Each volume combines the most authoritative text available with the comprehensive pedagogical apparatus necessary to appreciate the work fully. Careful editing, first-rate translation, and thorough explanatory annotations allow each text to meet the highest literary standards while remaining accessible to students. Each edition is printed on acid-free paper and every text in the series remains in print. Norton Critical Editions are the choice for excellence in scholarship for students at more than 2,000 universities worldwide. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

One of my favorites
I first read this book about 8 years ago in a High School history class.Since then I have read it twice and I did a college thesis on it; it is one of my favorite books.The first time I read the hardcover book; the next two times I listened to the unabridged audiobook and enjoyed it so much better.

At Least Charles Dickens Could Write
Cicero once wrote, 'It is an outrageous abuse both of time and literature for a man to commit his thoughts to writing without having the ability either to arrange them or manifest them, or attract readers by some charm of style."

This book is a naturalistic novel with poor prose. Melodramatic and sensationalistic. It is functionally aligned to what was characterized as 'dime-novels' during the era in which it was written. The prose is so heinous it made me think the writer Mr. Sinclair must have been mentally exiguous. I had difficulty affirming in my own mind as I read this book that it was actually written by an adult, and not a fourteen-year-old child; notwithstanding a supposed professional novelist at that. Charles Dickens worked in a garment factory when he was a teenager as well as had a far less well-off beginning to life than that of Mr. Sinclair, yet Mr. Dickens could express with the most refined art and effort such an ease of pen dazzling the reader in every line. Dickens had indubitably an eye for detail and perfection that Sinclair's intellectual apathy could never aspire to grasp.

For a more eminent literary personification of the naturalistic novel genre, I would suggest reading Stephen Crane's Maggie: A Girl of the Streets. The naturalistic novel was always a phantasm of reality, but there were well-written ones and poorly written ones; this one by Upton Sinclair is a literary peril to say the least.

This book is exceptional only its ridiculousness. The characters are passive, dull, cliché, and often utterly puerile in their own conceptualization of their circumstances (this reflects upon the limited thought process of the writer).

In respect to the vulgarity discussed by Sinclair regarding the food industry of this era it should be noted the industry had already been exposed by various NON-fiction writers of the period (preceding Sinclair), and much (the emphasis being much, not all) of the industry had consequently been reformed apropos to the processing of food by the time this book was published. Essentially the government mandated regulatory reforms that were instituted the following year as a result of the popularity of this book were unnecessary, most significantly postulated on aberrational phenomena, and were superficial in remonstrance (oh but they made the public feel good inside). Conversely had Sinclair decided to be objective in his critique of the meatpacking industry in contrast to producing 'muckracking' so-called journalism derived out of his own subjective views in support of socialist ideology he would have discovered the previously mentioned actuality, but since this is a work of fiction he could write anything he wished, and he did. Why Sinclair went down the road of sensationalism in this novel may be attributable to the failures of his first four books. However, because he decided to go down that road he cannot be taken seriously as a scholar in any regard.

It should be noted that Sinclair was not merely a metaphorical socialist, he was a literal one (he was an unsuccessful Socialist Party candidate in the U.S.). In historical context Sinclair's political persuasion was during an era when the progressive political faction was gaining in popularity in America, so as a socialist ideologue he [Sinclair] was even further to the left politically than the progressives (he could be paralleled with a Michael Moore type in the present-era).

This book is a literary work of fiction, and should not be taken earnestly as a non-fictional scholarly critique. With that noted it also falls short in regard to literary style, and because the characters are passively portrayed by Sinclair in contrast to being actively portrayed it is difficult for the reader to form any authentic connection with them (they exist more as abstractions).

Great story
The Jungle is one of those books whose fame eclipses its reality. You probably learned about this one in sociology, history, biology, psychology, whatever class. Unfortunately, too few people have read it. You should. Not because it practically created the FDA either, but because it is a great story. However you want to classify the book - immigrant story, historical fiction, social realism, whatever else English teachers have done to deaden the fun - it's Jurgis' struggle to carve out a place for his family in the raw, brutal world of America that continues to fascinate. As a Chicagoan, I think this should be required reading for anyone who lives here - so many of the political and social conditions of the city and still connected to the systems of corporate and political cooperation that were established in the era of the novel. The ending is disappointing and definitely skip-able, but don't let that stop you from reading a great story.

Pablos review of The Jungle
Did you ever want to read a book that revolutionized the food industries' laws, and at the same time reformed workers rights? Well then, The Jungle is the book for you. It is a wonderful tale about an immigrant family who just moved to Chicago, and shows their struggle in life just to survive in the miserable stockyards. Upton Sinclair, the author of this wonderful novel has a very unique style of writing that separates his book from all the others. His descriptive wrting and his use of symbolism make this story truely different. His overall mood is one of social protest, because the author wants changes in laws. The tone of Upton Sinclair is also very unique, he also tries to persuade you to his views on socialism and how bad some parts of the American government are. So, if you want to read book that will curdle your stomach and changes your views on equality, read The Jungle. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Will History Repeat Itself?
"Human beings suffer agonies, and their sad fates become legends; poets write verses about them and playwrights compose dramas, and the remembrance of past grief becomes a source of present pleasure- such is the strange alchemy of the spirit."

So writes Upton Sinclair near the conclusion of Dragon's Teeth (Part 2), reflecting on the cycles of history.However, it is hard to read through this, the third chapter of Sinclair's World's End series, and find much pleasure at all in these human agonies- even three quarters of a century after the real world backdrop of this book takes place.

In July 2005, Julie Salamon wrote a piece for The New York Times, wondering what happened to these works of Upton Sinclair.Coincidentally, I happened to be in the middle of Dragon's Teeth (Book 2).While reading her thoughts on the books (and Sinclair's character, Lanny Budd), I agreed with her that these are books that should not have been forgotten, as they have been.

Sinclair's utilization of fiction to tell the story of a true world history is risky, but effective.And while there are many reasons to read these works (or at least Dragon's Teeth), none is perhaps as powerful as the need to remember that wars, atrocities, torture, propaganda- all those things that are detriments to civilized society- that they do not happen in the abstract.They manifest in the lives (and deaths) of people.And as we are living in the world where human beings are facing agonies, are we too soon rationalizing them into some perverse pleasure? Before we too quickly translate agonies into the stuff of lore, perhaps it is time to prevent those agonies from occuring in the first place. Perhaps this can happen so that no authors need write fiction based in truth like this again.

[This review is of both Dragon's Teeth Part 1 and Part 2] ... Read more

Product Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The real story of WWII
Sinclair's hero, an art dealer with family connections on all sides of the Second World War, is the ultimate insider. Albert Einstein suggests on the bookjacket that this is the book to read if you really want to understand what went on behind the scenes during the war. The thinking person's Forrest Gump ... ... Read more

Product Description
The protracted trial of Sacco and Vanzetti was the most controversial political event of the 1920s. Today, more than seventy years after their execution, the events surrounding the case of Sacco and Vanzetti are still the source of debate. Truly, it is the "case that would not die." Surprisingly, of all the books that have appeared over the years concerning the case, the most complete and convincing was first published in 1928, only a year after the execution of Sacco and Vanzetti. That book is Upton Sinclair's Boston. In his "documentary novel" the celebrated author of The Jungle combined a firm grasp of the facts of the case with an engrossing fictional framework to produce a remarkably accurate and comprehensive report of the events that spanned the years 1919 to 1927 which ultimately focused the attention of the whole world on a drama played out in the drawing rooms, courts, and streets of the city of Boston. In Boston, Sinclair described the xenophobia and paranoia that led the upper crust of Boston society to see these two illiterate immigrants as a threat to their way of life, and led to their conviction on the flimsiest of evidence. Sinclair used his considerable skills to arouse the reader to a state of outrage as the protagonists' inevitable fate approaches. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Most Important Trial of the Last Century
Upton Sinclair was a socialist from Baltimore, MD.He wrote many books trying to bring to light the plight of immigrants, and exploited laborers.

In "Boston", Sinclair focuses on the lives of Bartolomeo Vanzetti and Nicola Sacco, two Italian immigrants.Sacco and Vanzetti were accused of robbery and murder in Braintree, MA, with no more evidence against them than the fact that they were Italian.Their execution caused protests in nearly every major city world wide.

So much of this book draws parallels to today.During the early 1900's, it was believed that all Italians were little more than bomb wielding terrorists.At their trial, it was used against them that they weren't "patriotic", because they had dodged the WWI draft. (Which they weren't subject to anyway, because they weren't even US citizens).

I'm from Massachusetts, and found the book particularly interesting in that regard too, to see how things were like in the 1920's.My great-grandfather, Pasquale, was an Italian immigrant who worked with Vanzetti in the Plymouth Cordage Park for a time.It was very interesting, to learn how little he got paid for such dangerous and hard work, and also the challenges he faced as an Italian immigrant.

I think it's very important, that we learn from the past, because these types of prejudices still impede justice today.If you've never heard of Sacco and Vanzetti, or don't know very much about them, you *need* to read this book.The audacity of their trial, and the compelling nature of their story, is one that will stick with you for the rest of your life.It's no wonder that they have inspired so many artists and musicians.

A Country stripped of it's supposed principasl
This book about the Sacco-Vanzetti case is presented here as a novel. It is, however, a novel in which the historic analogies are carefully observed. In reading it one shudders at the similarities between that "red scare", the McCarthy affair and today the erosion under Bush of constitutional rights. It is obvious that the "upper class" is pitted against the "working class". In democratic socialism in which the owners of a concern are the workers (understood as being from the scrub-lady to the CEO. Decidedly stock-owners who do no work but have inherited their wealth are not considered as workers. There is no question that this was a crucial time for the labour movement and for the various parasitic wealthy people who have inherited their wealth and to whom the suffering of their labourers was indifferent. Undoubtedly it is a manifestation of the "class struggle" and of great importance to us in the U.S. today with its leaning more and more to the right. The indifference and even hostility with which in the US the poor are treated and exploited has apparently not changed at all.

Dr. Erich H. Loewy
Prof. & F'dg Chair of Bioethics (emeritus)
University of CA, Davis
11465 Ghirardelli Court
Ranch Cordova, CA 95670
TEL/FAX: 916-635-7555

Excellent Story
This mammoth book covers the Sacco / Vanzetti trial - probably the most tumultuous trial in the early part of last century.Sacco and Vanzetti were two Italian workers who were accused of murdering and stealing money from two payroll carriers in suburban Boston.The story is told through the use of a fictional character named Cornelia, who had lived a life with the rich and elite of Boston.After her husband dies, she wants to live life and takes a tough job in a rope factory.In seeking room and board, she meets and befriends Vanzetti.Experiencing the poor working conditions and associating with Vanzetti, she sees the abuse of the workers by the rich owners and becomes sympathetic to social change.

The story turns tragic, though, when the good-natured Vanzetti and his friend Sacco, are implicated in a burglary.The police seeking a guilty party intimidate and coerce Irish witnesses into telling lies about the pair.The Italians have very little hope once they reach the courtroom, when they learn that the judge is clearly against them.Being poor, they are unable to pay the necessary and customary bribe.

When they are found guilty, other countries and labor leaders throughout the world became angry with Boston.Freedom and the United States' justice system becomes a laughing matter.Ultimately, the police were called in to handle the riots that almost ensued in Boston when the pair of activists was put to death.Even today, there are shadows of doubt over Boston as aresult of this trial.

Using part fiction and part history, Upton Sinclair paints a grim portrait of American justice gone awry.Over and over, Sinclair points out where the plaintiff's case was based on non-credible witnesses, a biased judge and jury, hatred of the defendants' socialistic and anarchistic beliefs, and prejudice.While the book was interesting, especially in illuminating thereader of how the system "really" works, I did find it tiring.The book was long and there were a ton of witnesses and characters that the reader had to remember.Sometimes, the same points and facts were repeated two or three times and the story had a tendency to jump around in time.Overall, though, I found the book interesting and absorbing - like all of Sinclair's works that I have read.

Another American Tragedy
Boston, a novel in two volumes by Upton Sinclair, was first published by Albert & Charles Boni in 1928 and is an historical novel about the well documented Sacco-Vanzetti trials. Written in typical Sinclair fashion, the story weaves through the personal lives and motivations of Sacco and Vanzetti. In his continual search for social justice, this event gives Sinclair another opportunity to decry the social conservatism of the day. The novel presents the reader with a different perspective of this milestone in American jurisprudence.

An interesting perspective on social justice
This book provides an interesting perspective of the justice system.It compares the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti, two poor, italian, anachists, to a trial of some of Boston's Blue Blooded elite (fictionalization of a truestory).Sinclair never goes so far as to claim Sacco and Vanzetti areinnocent (actually one of his biographers claimed that he had his owndoubts), only to show that the trial was biased by their social andpolitical views. ... Read more

Product Description
This Prestwick House Literary Touchstone EditionTM includes a glossary and reader’s notes to help the modern reader contend with Sinclair’s characterizations and language.Chicago, 1904: The lure of good wages and a chance to live The American Dream lure thousands of unsuspecting immigrants to the big city, where they find—instead of wealth and freedom—only stifling poverty, pervasive corruption, infectious disease, and early death. Upton Sinclair’s masterpiece of muckraking fiction-mixed-with-fact led to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act, but not in time to save the struggling Lithuanian family whose members come to life in The Jungle. The daily dangers of the meatpacking industry, dishonest politicians, and greedy businessmen, who care only about profits, conspire to rob Jurgis, Marija, Ona, and the rest of their hope and dignity. One after another, they succumb to the horrors that Sinclair so vividly depicts. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A gripping "Descent to Hell". A true account? That's another matter
I would have liked for the negative reviewer to give examples of what he calls Sinclair's poor, "fourteen-year old" level literary style. Here is an excerpt of chapter one, depicting the wedding banquet of the novel's main character, Jurgis.

"The musicians - how shall one begin to describe them? All this time they have been there, playing in a mad frenzy - all of this scene must be read, or said, or sung, to music. It is the music which makes it what it is; it is the music which changes the place from the rear room of a saloon in back of the yards to a fairy place, a wonderland, a little corner of the high mansions of the sky.

The little person who leads this trio is an inspired man. His fiddle is out of tune, and there is no rosin on his bow, but still he is an inspired man - the hands of the muses have been laid upon him. He plays like one possessed by a demon, by a whole horde of demons. You can feel them in the air round about him, capering frenetically; with their invisible feet they set the pace, and the hair of the leader of the orchestra rises on end and his eyeballs start from their sockets, as he toils to keep up with them."

I'd like to meet the fourteen-year old capable of writing like that - and I wish I were able to myself.

The reviewer seems to be confusing two issues: that of literary style and that of character depiction and psychology. The two are perfectly independent. The reviewer chides Sinclair for depicting passive characters. This is precisely what the novel is about: these characters - immigrants from Lithuania come to make a life in Chicago's meat-packing industry- do NOT start out as passive characters: they come to get their share of the American dream. "I will work harder" is Jurgis' motto. But then, they are crushed into passivity, despair, and death, by the Chicago industry and - let's call a spade a spade - unfettered capitalism. You may resent the narrative intent and the ideology that underpins it if you wish, but don't try and pass it off for poor "litterary style". The negative reviewer also shows his lack of honest and balanced judgment when he claims that the characters' "often utterly puerile (...) conceptualization of their circumstances (...) reflects upon the limited thought process of the writer". On the contrary, Sinclair takes the stand of an anonymous, outside (but sympathetic) narrator depicting characters (he sometimes refers to them as "our friends") that are foreign to the land, the language, the economics, and do NOT comprehend what is happening to them and what system they have fallen prey to - which leads them to be crushed even more surely. Far from reflecting the author's "limited thought process", it reflects a narrator who poses himself as having MORE knowledge and understanding than his characters. A change occurs at the end, when the main character, Jurgis, meets the socialists and starts understanding. These are in fact the weakest pages of the novel, because of their forced didacticism, although Sinclair fortunately keeps short of patronizing naiveté by still having a secondary character, Elzbieta, Jurgis' mother-in-law, purely "stomach-driven", socialism or not (see quotation in comments section).

It is also less than candid to reproach Sinclair for not being born in the social circles that he depicts. First, this is not true: Sinclair grew up in difficult and far from affluent circumstances, even if, through his grandparents, he also had a glimpse into the other world. Second, he did go as an "undercover agent" to investigate in the meat-packing industry and had first-hand knowledge of what he fictionalized. Now, sure, Sinclair was a socialist, when such a thing still existed in the USA.Does it bias his fiction and twist his description of the facts? Reading the book, I certainly hope so. Because if what he depicts had been anything close to the truth, it can only send shivers down your spine, and make you wonder how the working class ever got out of that. But then, I wouldn't vouch either that it had no relation whatsoever with reality. This country has forgotten - this country WANTS to forget and prefers turning a blind eye to these things, and many others that don'tpaint its past (and present) in such glowing light as it loves to dream itself. Sure, Sinclair raked muck. Is it enough to condemn him? Wasn't there (and isn't there still) muck that needs to be raked?

The irony of the book's success and outcome is that, while it aimed primarily at denouncing the inhuman labor conditions in those days, it is only Sinclair's anecdotal depiction of the appalling absence of any interest for quality and health control of the production process and resulting products that stirred the public's uproar. In Sinclair's own words, "I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach."The book's success came "not because the public cared anything about the workers, but simply because the public did not want to eat tubercular beef".

I'd also like to know where CM draws his contention from that most of the quality problems signalled by Sinclair had been solved before the novel was written. Theodore Roosevelt - who sneeringly dismissed Sinclair - was led by the public outrage to appoint two investigators whom he fully trusted, and they concluded that Sinclair's observations were largely true.

Anyway, all this sneering has much to do with ideologies and little with the book's literary value. The painting of a woman is not a woman and a fiction does not purport to be a sociological thesis. Despite its didactic end, I've found "The Jungle" a well-written and gripping depiction of an implacable crushing machine. The novel should have been titled "Hell" or "The Descent to Hell".

One of my favorites
I first read this book about 8 years ago in a High School history class.Since then I have read it twice and I did a college thesis on it; it is one of my favorite books.The first time I read the hardcover book; the next two times I listened to the unabridged audiobook and enjoyed it so much better.

At Least Charles Dickens Could Write
Cicero once wrote, 'It is an outrageous abuse both of time and literature for a man to commit his thoughts to writing without having the ability either to arrange them or manifest them, or attract readers by some charm of style."

This book is a naturalistic novel with poor prose. Melodramatic and sensationalistic. It is functionally aligned to what was characterized as 'dime-novels' during the era in which it was written. The prose is so heinous it made me think the writer Mr. Sinclair must have been mentally exiguous. I had difficulty affirming in my own mind as I read this book that it was actually written by an adult, and not a fourteen-year-old child; notwithstanding a supposed professional novelist at that. Charles Dickens worked in a garment factory when he was a teenager as well as had a far less well-off beginning to life than that of Mr. Sinclair, yet Mr. Dickens could express with the most refined art and effort such an ease of pen dazzling the reader in every line. Dickens had indubitably an eye for detail and perfection that Sinclair's intellectual apathy could never aspire to grasp.

For a more eminent literary personification of the naturalistic novel genre, I would suggest reading Stephen Crane's Maggie: A Girl of the Streets. The naturalistic novel was always a phantasm of reality, but there were well-written ones and poorly written ones; this one by Upton Sinclair is a literary peril to say the least.

This book is exceptional only its ridiculousness. The characters are passive, dull, cliché, and often utterly puerile in their own conceptualization of their circumstances (this reflects upon the limited thought process of the writer).

In respect to the vulgarity discussed by Sinclair regarding the food industry of this era it should be noted the industry had already been exposed by various NON-fiction writers of the period (preceding Sinclair), and much (the emphasis being much, not all) of the industry had consequently been reformed apropos to the processing of food by the time this book was published. Essentially the government mandated regulatory reforms that were instituted the following year as a result of the popularity of this book were unnecessary, most significantly postulated on aberrational phenomena, and were superficial in remonstrance (oh but they made the public feel good inside). Conversely had Sinclair decided to be objective in his critique of the meatpacking industry in contrast to producing 'muckracking' so-called journalism derived out of his own subjective views in support of socialist ideology he would have discovered the previously mentioned actuality, but since this is a work of fiction he could write anything he wished, and he did. Why Sinclair went down the road of sensationalism in this novel may be attributable to the failures of his first four books. However, because he decided to go down that road he cannot be taken seriously as a scholar in any regard.

It should be noted that Sinclair was not merely a metaphorical socialist, he was a literal one (he was an unsuccessful Socialist Party candidate in the U.S.). In historical context Sinclair's political persuasion was during an era when the progressive political faction was gaining in popularity in America, so as a socialist ideologue he [Sinclair] was even further to the left politically than the progressives (he could be paralleled with a Michael Moore type in the present-era).

This book is a literary work of fiction, and should not be taken earnestly as a non-fictional scholarly critique. With that noted it also falls short in regard to literary style, and because the characters are passively portrayed by Sinclair in contrast to being actively portrayed it is difficult for the reader to form any authentic connection with them (they exist more as abstractions). ... Read more