Editing Upton Sinclair (section)

===''The Jungle''===
{{further|The Jungle}}
His fictional novel based on the [[meatpacking industry in Chicago]], ''The Jungle,'' was first published in serial form in the socialist newspaper ''[[Appeal to Reason (newspaper)|Appeal to Reason]],'' from February 25, 1905, to November 4, 1905. It was published as a book by [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]] in 1906.<ref>[http://hnn.us/articles/27227.html "''The Jungle''"], History News Network</ref>
[[File:Upton Sinclair Oil.jpg|thumb|Upton Sinclair selling the "[[Fig Leaf Edition]]" of his book ''[[Oil!]]'' (1927) in Boston. The book had drawn the ire of that town's infamous censors who objected to a brief sex scene that takes place in the novel.]]
Sinclair had spent about six months investigating the Chicago meatpacking industry for ''Appeal to Reason'', the work which inspired his novel. He intended to "set forth the breaking of human hearts by a system which exploits the labor of men and women for profit".<ref name= Joslyn /> The novel featured Jurgis Rudkus, a [[Lithuanian Americans|Lithuanian]] [[immigrant]] who works in a meat factory in Chicago, his teenage wife Ona Lukoszaite, and their extended family. Sinclair portrays their mistreatment by Rudkus' employers and the wealthier elements of society. His descriptions of the unsanitary and inhumane conditions that workers suffered served to shock and galvanize readers. [[Jack London]] called Sinclair's book "the ''[[Uncle Tom's Cabin]]'' of [[wage slavery]]".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.socalhistory.org/bios/upton_sinclair.html |title=Socalhistory.org |access-date=2012-06-05 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120527075221/http://www.socalhistory.org/bios/upton_sinclair.html |archive-date=2012-05-27 |url-status=usurped }}</ref> Domestic and foreign purchases of American meat fell by half.<ref>{{cite web| url= https://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/jan-june06/jungle_5-10.html| title= Sinclair's 'The Jungle' Turns 100| work= [[PBS Newshour]]| via= PBS.org| date= 10 May 2006| access-date= 10 June 2010| archive-date= January 8, 2014| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140108185245/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/jan-june06/jungle_5-10.html| url-status= dead}}</ref>

Sinclair wrote in ''[[Cosmopolitan (magazine)|Cosmopolitan]]'' in October 1906 about ''The Jungle'': "I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach."<ref name=timebelle /> The novel brought public lobbying for Congressional legislation and government regulation of the industry, including passage of the [[Meat Inspection Act]] and the [[Pure Food and Drug Act]].<ref>{{cite book| editor-first= Bloom| editor-last= Harold| first= Upton |last= Sinclair| title= The Jungle| publisher= [[Infobase Publishing]]| edition= 2002| page= 11}}</ref> At the time, President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] characterized Sinclair as a "crackpot",<ref>{{cite book| author-link= Fulton Oursler| first= Fulton |last= Oursler| title= Behold This Dreamer!| place= Boston| publisher= Little, Brown| year= 1964| page= 417}}</ref> writing to [[William Allen White]], "I have an utter contempt for him. He is hysterical, unbalanced, and untruthful. Three-fourths of the things he said were absolute falsehoods. For some of the remainder there was only a basis of truth."<ref>{{Citation | contribution = July 31, 1906 | title = The Letters | first = Theodore | last = Roosevelt | editor-first = Elting E. | editor-last = Morison | place = Cambridge, Massachusetts | publisher = [[Harvard University Press]] | year = 1951–54 | volume = 5 | page = 340}}.</ref> After reading ''The Jungle,'' Roosevelt agreed with some of Sinclair's conclusions. He said, "Radical action must be taken to do away with the efforts of arrogant and selfish greed on the part of the capitalist." But in the end he said he was opposed to legislation that he and others considered "[[socialist]]."<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jupton.htm | contribution = Upton Sinclair, ''The Jungle'' | title = Spartacus | publisher = School net | place = UK | url-status=dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060923121536/http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jupton.htm | archive-date = 2006-09-23 }}.</ref> 

[[Bertolt Brecht]]'s play, ''[[Saint Joan of the Stockyards]]'', transporting [[Joan of Arc]] to the environment of the Chicago stockyards, is clearly inspired by "The Jungle".