The Jungle
Grosset & Dunlap: New York, 1906
The publication of Sinclair's novel which told the story of a poor Lithuanian immigrant working in the stockyards of Chicago led to the passage of both the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act in 1906. Despite the passage of these acts, Sinclair's novel continues to convince many of its readers to become vegetarians. In the fall of 1904 in preparation for the writing of The Jungle, Sinclair visited Chicago to observe the slaughterhouses and meat factories. His work reflects the brutally unsanitary conditions that he witnessed.
Sources:
Bloodworth, William A. "Upton Sinclair." Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 9: American Novelists, 1910-1945. Edited by James J. Martine. Detroit: Gale, 1981.
Robert L. Gale. "Sinclair, Upton." American National Biography.
Edited by John A. Garraty, Mark C. Carnes. New York: Oxford University
Press, 1999.
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