The Jungle (AmazonClassics Edition)

By: Upton Sinclair

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki

Lithuanian immigrant Jurgis Rudkus has invested every last hope in achieving a prosperous new start in a new country. But the only job open to him - in the appalling stockyards of Packingtown, Chicago - will become a brutal, dispiriting, and dangerous challenge to his pride, his family, his life, and his faith in the American Dream.

A scathing condemnation of capitalism, corporate corruption, and the exploitation of the working class, The Jungle was a sensation when first published. It stands as one the greatest and most influential proletarian novels ever written.

AmazonClassics brings you timeless works from the masters of storytelling. Ideal for anyone who wants to read a great work for the first time or rediscover an old favorite, these new editions open the door to literature’s most unforgettable characters and beloved worlds.

Revised edition: Previously published as The Jungle, this edition of The Jungle (AmazonClassics Edition) includes editorial revisions.

©2018 Brilliance Audio, Inc. (P)2018

Excellent narration.

You need a strong stomach for this. Upton Sinclair’s muckraking prose spares us nothing of the hideous details of Chicago’s turn-of-the-century slaughterhouses and meatpacking plants. The catalog of horrors piled upon one family will make you realize the romantic image of immigrant America was a horrendous fallacy. How anyone survived here back then is a miracle. The story is so nightmarish I could only listen to it in small doses. This book remains as effective as it was over a hundred years ago.

a story to study

Very well narrated, the book explores agrarian and industrial attitudes setting up the conflict between capitalistic and socialistic views. As the main character journeys from hope to despair to hope again, this book should be revisited every 20 years to compare how the reader's attitudes have also changed.

almost the socialist answer to Atlas shrugged

but really it's more of a "Call to arms"

well worth the time; certainly an amazing narrorator

Moving story, still relevant today!

If you got any kind of each, you will feel this dark story about a migrant family searching for a better life ( how relevant today). In a sense this book serves us as a reminder of what we can lose today if we meekly follow the billionairs ( you too Bezos) and what the West ignores about the ppl. who make our stuff cheaply.
The last 4 chapters aren't as strong as the rest but you have to except this book is more then a century old !

Always Learning

I’ve actually read this novel several times. Each time focusing on the very small part of the labor and safety conditions of the time but on my last reading my eyes shot wide open to the political message the novel was trying to portray. I’m glad this time I listened and was able to hear its total affects.

I thought I knew the story, but...

Great performance, from a great classic. There was so very much more to the story than I had envisioned. It is a definite must listen/read for all of us.

The best story ever.

What makes a book a good book? And 90% of the time it’s the reader. While this reader is not the greatest, there are other readers out there such as Grover Gardner, and the best one George Guidell. Try listening to one of those first, they make the experience come to life.