The Jungle
by Upton Sinclair · first published 1791
23% recommend72% neutral5% critical
Why HN recommends it
Novel about immigrant workers in Chicago's meatpacking industry that exposed unsafe food and exploitative labor, prompting food safety reform. Suits readers wanting history behind regulation and worker protections.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Upton Sinclair's dramatic and deeply moving story exposed the brutal conditions in the Chicago stockyards at the turn of the nineteenth century and brought into sharp moral focus the appalling odds against which immigrants and other working people struggled for their share of the American dream. Denounced by the conservative press as an un-American libel on the meatpacking industry, the book was championed by more progressive thinkers, including then President Theodore Roosevelt, and was a major catalyst to the passing of the Pure Food and Meat Inspection act, which has tremendous impact to th
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…kind of brilliant new idea. It's been tried before, and in some countries it's still being tried. If the Chinese cat food stories from last year aren't scary enough for you, try reading Sinclair's The Jungle... or the slaughterhouse chapter of Fast Food Nation.
on “Everything I want to do is Illegal” ↗Massive immigration to the US far predates 1965. Read eg. Upton Sinclair's The Jungle (1906) for a glimpse into how new immigrants were treated around the turn of the century.
on “Temps, Consultants, and the Rise of the Precarious Economy” ↗…have the time or energy to synthesize an exhaustive list of concerning examples on the spot. If the prospect of an under regulated food supply doesn't concern you I would strongly suggest reading "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair. (Or for a lighthearted example, see: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chemical-infused-watermelons-ex...)
on “U.S. Supreme Court deems half of Oklahoma a Native American reservation” ↗The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?” ↗"The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair "When Bad Things Happen to Good People" by Harold Kushner
on “Ask HN: Please name two of your most favorite books.” ↗Jungle (Upton Sinclair). I never tire of reading about the immigrant experience in America, especially as a Chicagoan in this case. The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden…
on “Ask HN: What books are you reading this week?” ↗I suppose we need to relive the days of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle before labor rights isn’t viewed as a negative. We really are regressing in this area. If you haven’t already done so please read the book.
on “Wage Theft is a Bigger Problem Than Other Forms of Theft (2014)” ↗Required reading - The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair: https://www.amazon.com/Jungle-Dover-Thrift-Editions/dp/04864... This is the book that led to food safety reforms after the dangers of meat packing plants were revealed to the public.…
on “Seasonal Associate” ↗The Jungle by Upton Sinclair was the first thing I read which challenged my teenaged conservative viewpoint.
on “Ask HN: What book changed your life?” ↗The Jungle by Upton Sinclair Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick
on “Ask HN: Which books you have read till now that were worth investing time in?” ↗A few books to recommend here: "The Condition of the Working Class in England" by Friedrich Engels, a firsthand account of the struggles and conditions faced by workers in industrial England. "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair, about the exploitative conditions in the meatpacking industry and helped lead to the passage of food safety laws. "The Feminine Mystique" by Betty Friedan, detailing the struggles…
on “Amazon Is Running Out of Warehouse Workers. Cue the Robots” ↗Ugh.. anyone thinking of sending their kid to work in a meatpacking factory should read the Jungle by Upton Sinclair instead: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jungle
on “Instead of paying adults more, states let companies hire kids for labor shortage” ↗I recommend The Jungle by Upton Sinclair - proof that the meat industry was already there in 1906.
on “New study suggests that lab-grown meat produces up to 25 times more CO2” ↗AOC needs to read "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair. There is nothing new under the sun.
on “Inheriting is becoming nearly as important as working” ↗…regulations for sure. But they exist to protect the population at large. For example, food safety laws were not created out of government hostility but rather because food was unsafe. Read (or read about) The Jungle by Upton Sinclair if you want to get creeped out about the food industry in the 1930s before regulations
on “The AI industry is pouring millions into US elections” ↗