Difficult to fight your way past the word CLASSIC when reviewing this book. THE JUNGLE is easily one of the most socially influential books of the American 20th century. What I was concerned might be a stifling academic exercise turned out to be an engaging straight-ahead narrative. The perils faced by the extended immigrant family tossed into the slaughterhouse life of the early 1900‘s Chicago stockyards are grinding, grueling and overwhelming but still I wanted to keep reading. No mean feat. Sinclair creates an all senses plunge into the time period—contemporary to him, vivid horrifying history to me. This marvelous immersion put me in mind of Jacob Riis HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES—a fabulous look at similar degradations going on in New York tenements of the era. Though famous for spurring many of the earliest food safety regulations, simple human dignity is the spine of this novel. The immigrants that flesh out this story face their own slow motion slaughter--their naivete replaced by disbelief, horror and eventual resignation--are fleshed out as real living moment to moment people. I was gripped entirely until the last 50 plus pages of the novel when the savior appears in the form of turn of the century socialism. Many positives can be credited to this socialist movement, (and full disclosure if I had to label myself at all Socialist would not be far from the mark) but the pie in the sky presentation here represents a return to naivete the immigrants began with. I would like to think that is an intentional “caught in a cycle” theme but no. During this part of the book, the main character moves through the inner workings of the socialist movement the way he moved through the slaughterhouses. Written today, this passage would be leavened with some perspective, but Sinclair writing in the flush of times smothers the reader with optimism. That being said, still a marvelous read—don’t be afraid.