Annotated Bibliography

Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. Durham: Duke Classics, 2012. First published 1981 by Doubleday.

The Jungle is a piece of historical fiction detailing the experiences of an immigrant family working in America during the 1900s. Many members of the family find themselves working at various parts of a meat processing plant. Initially hopeful of their new life in America, they get cheated out of money through contracts and exploited at their jobs. The meat packing plant they work at is revealed to have no regard for the workers, viewing them as replaceable. The work conditions are poor, having low wages, long hours, unsanitary, and full of working hazards. 

“Swift & Company’s Meat Packing House, Chicago, Illinois, ‘Splitting Backbones and Final Inspection of Hogs,’ 1910-1915 - Keystone View  Company - Google Arts & Culture.” Google. Accessed March 21, 2024. https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/swift-company-s-meat- packing-house-chicago-illinois-splitting- backbones-and-final-inspection-of-hogs-1910-1915-keystone-view-company/XQHjQ1CHl1antA? hl=en. 

This is an image from one of the most prominent meat packing companies in the 1900s, the Swift & Company's Meat Packing House. It shows the process of cutting parts of meat from a hog, which is carried along a conveyor.

“‘Upton Sinclair Bares New Atrocities of Beef Trust.’” The Manning Times., June 6, 1906. https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn86063760/1906-06- 06/ed-1/

The article gives Upton Sinclair's message about the state of the beef and meat being sold to the public. He mentions how the packers tried to convince Sinclair to not publish the book, either through bribes or threats. They also stopped the book from being published. Sinclair's message also includes examples of the way the meat packing companies lie to customers and put them at risk. Stale meat and diseased meat are disguised through chemicals and made into products. Canned meat is mislabeled, with the contents differing from the words on the can. For example, Canned Roast Beef was really just unwanted parts of animals, like cow udders or pig heads. Inspectors were also under the employ of packers and would let diseased meat pass inspection.