The Jungle

Penguin Classics/ Deluxe Edition. 8vo. Pp. xliv, 388. Illustrated wraps with French-fold flaps; untrimmed fore-edges. Cover art by Charles Burns. Foreword by Eric Schlosser. Introduction by Ronald Gottesman.

Sinclair's powerful exposé of the Chicago stockyards, which was the catalyst for strict reforms in the meat-packing industry and led to the formation of the Food and Drug Administration. Originally serialised in the socialist newspaper, Appeal to Reason, between February 25, 1905, and November 4, 1905, it was published in book form in a subscribers edition on 26 February 1906 by Doubleday, Page & Company. Intended to raise awareness of the conditions of the working poor, instead, what caused the most uproar was the use of diseased animals in food production. He complained about this misapprehension in a 1906 interview, stating "I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach".