I had to read this book in high school for a US history advanced course circa 1998. I love this book for it's shock value and the story it told of the poor Lithuanian family.

Rereading it in 2014, I still loved the imagery- the parallel between the animals and the slaughterhouse and his family and the bitter facts of making it in America. Upton lays out all these painstaking details, paints these vivid micro realities, then pulls back with a glossy pan-out to offer a solution.

What I didn't love or even really appreciate was the 30 page or so closing which was literally a man, on stage, espousing socialism. Not thinly veiled metaphor, not allegory. Straight socialism.

I appreciate how the author writes and constructs a story. I enjoy analyzing a puzzle from different angles. But this...I was saturated after a few pages. Then I began poking holes in his perfect future. So if we are all equal and no one desires fancy clothes or hairstyles... what happens to those laborers? And to build his self sustaining, independent communities...no man (or socialist community) is an island. Eventually you'll need grain, milk, fabrics, oil, something from a neighbor. I can't believe my sixteen or seventeen year old self let me forget about this.

However this isn't to say capitalism is a perfect system. I read an article about JLaw buying Jessica Simpson's house in 90210 and was thoroughly disgusted. ONE PERSON. SEVEN MILLION DOLLAR HOME. Does she excel at her craft? Sure. But that disparity between American excess compared to say, Japanese microliving in Tokyo... we're focusing on the wrong things.

What is the solution? I'm not sure. An income cap? More taxes for the rich? But there has to be some middle ground (that isn't Sinclair's socialism) to help right the egocentric cesspool we're engaging.

So Sinclair said, paraphrasing, I meant to hit people in the heart, instead I hit them in the stomach. Truth. I appreciate his idea as a jumping off point but it's certainly not a solution.