Here we have another book that I somehow got through all of school without reading. This one is a long-term classic and it is referenced often not only in media but in government related affairs too, so it was a pretty obvious one to put on my list. I'm glad I finally got around to it.
This book was fascinating and anxiety-inducing and great, up until the last few chapters that devolved into some sort of communist manifesto. As immigrants who don't understand the trap, you are filled with dread for all the MC's. Everything goes wrong in all the predictable ways and the author has done a wonderful job of capturing the suffocating helplessness of their plight and those like them. This is not a happy book, but I still think everyone should read it! It is amazing how far we have come as a society!
"I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach."
Sinclair wrote this book to open the eyes of the established Americans to the unfair struggles of the poor and newer immigrants. Apparently, no one gave a shit about poor children drowning in mud or women needlessly dying in childbirth or unemployment leading to death, but the horrors of the food impurities stuck because those people had to eat it. They didn't care about the problems that didn't touch them. While it wasn't his goal, I'm very happy that no longer have to worry about rats dead of poison being swept into the sausage machine. There was considerable good that came out of this incredibly long expose, even if it wasn't the outcome the author intended. This book was the reason we created the governmental oversight in food and drugs so every American should read it.
