Rating: 
Summary: The Dehumanization of Man
Review: Perhaps even more horrific than the low living conditions, the filthy slaughterhouses, the poverty, and the disease, is the dehumanization of man. The individual is gone. Man has no worth other than his value to his capitalist employer; he is only a portion of a vast machine. Are your wages too low? Are your children sick? Have you not seen sunlight in days? Are your boots worn through with acid on the floor? Is your infected hand green? Are there rats and unlucky men in your food? Well, we care not ... you are a machine. You work. You do not complain. You live by our rules. You slave your day, every day, else you and your family starve. These are only a few of the monstrosities you will witness. Described as "no exaggeration," _The Jungle_ horrified me like no other book. Historical, political, and absolutely true, this novel brought a new sense of awareness to the Industrial Age. Man means nothing. I cried over this book, and it was literally the most depressing thing I have ever read. You can never win the game: you must cheat. You can never be treated like an individual: you must survive anyway. To read this is to observe horrors attempted to be kept secret. To read this is to forget the "American dream." To read this is to see the destruction of Man: through overpopulation and industrialization. Perhaps you feel alienated from it ... after all, it was written one hundred years ago. Things have changed. You don't care. But realize this: it has been covered up before, can it not be covered up now?
Rating:
Summary: You'll never look at a hotdog the same again ...
Review: Sinclair's _The Jungle_ is best known for its graphic and grisly details of the meat packing industry and the hazzards its products presented the public. This is all true, and those who are interested in looking for these descriptions will not be disappointed in the original edition of the book. However, there is another side to the story, one that is frequently overlooked: the social cost of industrialization, and the de-humanization of the labor force. Equally horrifying to the processing of the food is the abominable working conditions and maladies those who worked in the packinghouses suffered - from those who de-boned shanks (with thier stubs of a thumb), to the workers who removed the hides from the caracasses (their hands all but eaten away from the chemicals they worked in) - and the list goes on and on ... not to mention the daily struggles the immigrants faced, at constant risk of being swindled or abused. Sinclair was a socialist, and his political leanings are apparent in his classic book - yet this does not detract from the story; in fact, I would argue it only strengthens the force of his words. It is a marvelous read, but you'll never look at a hotdog the same again.
Rating: 
Summary: The Truth About the American Industrial Revelution
Review: This book is about Jurgis Rudkis, a Lithuanian, who comes to America to get his fortune. Unfortunatly, a series of events leaves him poor and in jail. He witnesses many disgusting and unfair things that sadly, many times really happened. He ends becoming a hobo and living in the country. His family is torn apart and seperates, leaving him alone in the world.
I would recommend this book to people who like history and government because much of this book is based on things that happened in the government and history of Packingtown in the 19th century.
I thought this book was boring. I felt that the plot of the story had no point and that it dragged on through the book.
Rating:
Summary: The Truth About the American Industrial Revelution
Review: This book is about Jurgis Rudkis, a Lithuanian, who comes to America to get his fortune. Unfortunatly, a series of events leaves him poor and in jail. He witnesses many disgusting and unfair things that sadly, many times really happened. He ends becoming a hobo and living in the country. His family is torn apart and seperates, leaving him alone in the world.
I would recommend this book to people who like history and government because much of this book is based on things that happened in the government and history of Packingtown in the 19th century.
I thought this book was boring. I felt that the plot of the story had no point and that it dragged on through the book.
Rating:
Summary: Finally, The Jungle as Sinclair wanted it
Review: This welcome offering of the original, unexpurgated version of Sinclair's The Jungle bears the following quote on its back cover, by Jack London: "Here it is at last! What 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' did for black slaves, 'The Jungle' has a large chance to do for the white slaves of today. It is brutal with life. It is written of sweat and blood and groans and tears. It depicts not what man ought to be, but what man is compelled to be, in this our world in the twentieth century. It depicts not what our country ought to be , or what it seems to be in the fancies of Fourth of July spellbinders--the home of liberty and equality, of opportunity--it depicts what our country really is, the home of oppression and injustice, a nightmare of misery, an inferno of suffering, a human hell, a jungle of wild beasts." It's hard to disagree with Mr. London. (The www.Amazon.com pic doesn't do the excellent new cover design justice, either: it looks washed out in the pic, whereas in reality the colors are much more lively.) One reading of this original version is enough to clue the reader in on why censors wanted Sinclair to prune the text: the picture it paints of American wage slavery, at its bloodiest and most unwholesome in the meat-packing industry, isn't flattering--to say the least. But far from simply describing inhumane conditions in a single industry, in a specific era, Sinclair paints a powerful metaphor for working class life in general. Slaughterhouses and meatpacking plants provide a bloody backdrop for the ruthless exploitation of man by man. If Sinclair ever commited a sin worthy of the censors' ire, it was simply the sin of describing American life exactly as it was--and is. This is highly recommended.
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Summary: Read this book!
Review: Too boring? Congrats, you are now part of the machine.
Rating:
Summary: Read this book!
Review: Too boring? Congrats, you are now part of the machine.
Rating:
Summary: inspiring optimism and thankfulness
Review: We all now know what the book is about; it is a gruesome depiction of the life that our immigrant descendants lived, which embarked on a quest for a piece of the American dream.
It is a harsh reality for me to think that MY relatives may have lived lives such as Jurgis and his family. My family settled in Ohio, lord knows what went on there!
Even though my husband recently lost his job, we are not starving; we have an unemployment check arriving in the mail every two weeks. We have untainted food arriving on our table from the supermarket. We have fresh pure milk to feed our 1 year old. We have doctors at our disposal. We have lives that are safe. We have financial assistance plans for every type of dip in the road. We are truly "a protected people".
It amazes me how far we have come as a country and God Bless those that had to blaze this heinous trail ahead of us. In ways I wish more folks would read this book, so that they could put things in perspective for themselves and truly be thankful for that job that asks that they work on the holidays but makes sure you leave in the same condition you arrived in.
I have to say I am shocked. I have been in the study of various dehumanization activities that took place throughout American history for quite some time and I have never read anything quite like this. I am so incredibly thankful that I live in the world during the 21st century.
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