I've been listening to this book on CD lately. This is a classic from American literature about life in Chicago for an immigrant from Lithuania names Jurgis (pronounced Yer-gis). Jurgis comes to Chicago with his fiancee, Ona, and her step-mother and siblings. He tries to make a life for them in the stockyards of Chicago around 1910. Wowie, if you aren't a vegetarian now, you might want to be one by the time you are halfway through with this book. You may not want to know what went on in those stockyards and rendering plants. You may never eat Spam again. You may never eat Lard again either. The author wrote to make a point about the poor working conditions in Chicago but even he admits, "I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach." The book includes stories about the political corruption in Chicago back then, strangely echoed in the recent news by Governor Rod Blagojevich, high unemployment (again echoed in current events), and the evils of capitalism versus socialism. 2009, exactly 103 years since "The Jungle" was written, is a strange time to be reading this book. This book, an immediate bestseller, made a huge splash when it was released. Theodore Roosevelt sent inspectors there to see how much of the story about the Chicago stockyards was true. The author hoped they would check out the hazardous working conditions. The inspectors focused on tubercular beef and food safety. Even though the stockyards knew the inspectors were coming, the inspectors found all but one of the accusations to be true. This startling discovery led to the Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act. I recommend you read this book if you follow it with a light-hearted novel to readjust your mood.
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