Upton Sinclair's great novel was a swing and a miss for the time. He famously said something along the lines of he was aiming for America's heart and hit it in the stomach. The book, which is famously an "exposé of the meatpacking industry" is only so for the first third of the book. So, what happens for the second two thirds of the story? The main character, Jurgis is essentially devoured by capital and its inherently predatory nature until in the final chapter he has his come-to-jesus-moment. This part is not particularly well know. This edition of the story, presented by penguin is interesting because it expounds further on the legislature passed in the wake of Sinclair's story, which apparently was blowing around in congress for approximately 30 years before the legislature was passed. Upton Sinclair's story which was intended to bring folks to the progressive cause, eventually only resulted in discussion solely focused on food legislation. Truly unfortunate. I enjoyed the story personally as this is a tale that many Eastern Europeans, like those from my Dad's side of the family found themselves in during this time period.